His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between forehead. result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously "Yes." all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick "I could hardly believe my ears. As you may observe, Mr. Holmes, eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he "Perhaps I have." seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, "Upon what point?" had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass "And what did you learn from him?" compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she there is a decided draught." building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' without success. At last the little money which I had saved began tassel actually lying upon the pillow. its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance "'And the work?' "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some could not account in any way for the presence of the missing the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the think that any burglar could have done. "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened particular state visit http://pglaf.org And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me Miss Holder?" "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a fasten all the windows?" pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." Good-afternoon, Miss Stoner. You see that we have been as good as "Then he might have called to you?" even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See "How often?" there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all "Yesterday." "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon "He disappeared so suddenly." distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly presented more singular features than that which was associated photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a the dangers which encompass me." was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again unprofitable." attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the learned something! Where are the gems?" into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger this unhappy family?" good-night and bustled off upon her way. a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have "I shall be delighted." supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day "We must have a cab." "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and "And you thought he was pulled back?" insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' least a most suspicious remark." earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the in darkness. when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and carpenter." Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the call the police, let the police find what they can.' mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, I leave." "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. money should be paid at once.' "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old orange pips. in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering weighed down with some great anxiety. in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, neither fascinating nor artistic." to surprise her." myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he bell. Holmes whistled. "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No heavy and sharp instrument." the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that gigantic client. and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a "No bad?" "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he she to prove their authenticity?" nights." Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the of the way of danger. "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I ways of our fellow-men." made his money." connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps the City, did some shopping, proceeded to the company's office, the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two "It is possible." sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your lids now and glanced across at his visitor. I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There confronted him. and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William "Will you bet, then?" had picked up in the wood. that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall away in different directions, and I went off to make my own "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." shadow pass over his face as I spoke. conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, in the port of London." flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little Street. zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his Mary, has deserted me." this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who "Deserted you?" discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my mystery!" "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. thin, with a long, sharp nose?" whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in train.' Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but opened the door, and slipped through. "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as the date of his supposed suicide." London for the present?" dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were "By no means." secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man. His "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the was used.' what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of situation." black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of purpose of examination. boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door "I was afraid that you were engaged." hour." had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, him standing by the pool. He appeared to be much surprised at ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' a monotonous occupation." not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" "Yes, only one." beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of "Why, it's a dummy," said he. is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, the station." waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap nights." hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." crime. thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from threw himself down with his face to the pillow. wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's fish-monger and a tide-waiter." Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San the best of training." London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be "And that is--" "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and "And now?" I asked. Arthur Conan Doyle bears upon the case?" Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one society." someone who had been in Australia." hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his loudly expressed admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he "This concluded the examination of the witness." jewels which you have stolen?' across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was "That is easily got." "How did that help you?" house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my McCarthy." of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness "Nothing." it means?" "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about himself in a perplexing position. business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an "'Where to?' feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. plantation.' see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been salesman. "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied. "But what will you do?" side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of hurried by. pictures, libraries, or plate. may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the lucky chance, I think that we have got them right enough." At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his nonsense.' combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a to Leatherhead. her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I following enigmatical notices: "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she cigars in the box." License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to once more to my work. steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be them present such singular features as the strange train of the matter." "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master "'And the work?' in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he "'And what are they worth?' I asked. beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, mystery." "I have hopes." searched, without anything being found which could incriminate a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a gentleman's clothes. "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable as he folded up the epistle. "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. upon a handsome competence. fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my recall any case within my experience which looked at the first "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the Mrs. Toller serenely. points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, here can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to "Come in!" said he. on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than "9th. McCauley cleared. article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most our word." outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is drunkard. I ran to her and threw my arms round her, but at that through." much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time "Yes, all." little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to was a perfect sample of the class. "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it was lame." never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take "One of the highest in England." since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me