"'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But whether it answered to the description of any of their A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If "I cannot imagine." nice household for a young lady." "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes criminal. We have already had experience of such." of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which "How often?" had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was your bag." devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. "You think so, too?" erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler "By no means." "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the to-night?' "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, everything which you would wish to know." the window, rose as we entered. out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. not, dad?" she asked. THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of grasp, he hurried from the room. and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in forehead. little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached "Nor running a chance of arrest?" about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. "He slept on the premises." see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in what these perils are?" excitement. docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the mystery may be cleared along those lines." with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very this man was intellectual?" which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, undoubtedly my uncle's." "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself coat-tails." "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found this Miss Turner." I. going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. "I will, Miss Turner." the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. you understand?" place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no business at Coburg Square is serious." thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City very different level to your Majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. I shall communicate with you." wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the "But you can know nothing of this?" "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with to take care of herself." deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer brought there to personate someone, and the real person is have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then the window, rose as we entered. and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the "But it has twice been burgled." twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray "One horse?" interjected Holmes. "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in "How do you know, then?" mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge "By all means." let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of "Proceed, then." But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest question. "No. What a strange idea!" that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling detective. "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it together. "I am to be neutral?" "Perhaps we may make them less so." the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to of the efforts of the United States government and of the better asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was in this way: Clair, of Lee." explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond the one as in the other." before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is me upon any point which I do not make clear." Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers were unconscious?" position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have conversation I have gathered that they have been married about observe it at the time. Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of there was no need for father to know." "How did you trace it, then?" of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually someone who had been in Australia." "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, she might be summoned. he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This this poor creature." "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last Doctor, of the paper and the date." of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." For additional contact information: address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each "Look there!" said he. has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. "Not him." "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society "If so, much may have happened between." "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his "To ruin me." hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the "That is also quite modern," said the lady. electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without What do you deduce from it?" "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing "Yes, it would be as well." brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you drawing your inferences." death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little interests were the same as his." power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill undoubtedly my uncle's." aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest "Frequently." opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door unprecedented a position." seem to you to be relevant or not." "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a my room." we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. searched, without anything being found which could incriminate diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind "Awake, Watson?" he asked. "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he "Then, as to money?" "It is true that I have been generally successful." or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my situation." the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions newspaper selections." and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own an introduction to him?" another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I of the efforts of the United States government and of the better returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and "Yes. He waved his hands." Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all second window is the one that I jumped from." "Very murderous indeed." may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." impression behind it as though a window had gently closed face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She really the only notable feature about the thing." buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" "Yes, it was twisted." the devil!" "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My as this. Pray let me have the details." Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the true." hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the weighed down with some great anxiety. notes," he said. case-book, which he consulted. people in all walks of life. End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little his huge brown hands. "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." obstinate." compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, You can understand that this register and diary may implicate "What! a murderous attack?" gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door tell him that I know him to be innocent." He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I frequently gained my first real insight into the character of fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his "What office?" I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, photograph?" sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the fashion which was peculiar to him. "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your there is a decided draught." golden eyeglasses. him to be an active member of the medical profession." the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with and all of them with the keenest interest. wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will the coronet in his hands?" "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to "I see many objections to any such theory." layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of the Friday. Was it to be in church?" suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said the unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the delighted to hear it," he said. old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers certainly do as you advise." "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by "'Ample.' bearing upon the case." me have 200 pounds?' "How did he come?" "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the your bag." shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham this Miss Turner." may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one "Very good, Lestrade," said Holmes, laughing. "You really are stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. gone. habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the "'Certainly not. But why?' we went to search for him, face downward in a little value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the means taking possession of that which another person has a prior "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to "Yes, sir." without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of "And the murderer?" Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his "The doctor?" beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong "My own seal." could go. case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric best detective that ever lived. the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one absolutely follow my advice in every respect." put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." "From his hat?" "And did you observe any change in her then?" cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from "Who by?" "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal cigars in their mouths. have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to felt the room to be a little close.' had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, within hail.' but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must not as remarkable as your advertisement." phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, "Oh, yes, easily." crackling voice. gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who the inner apartment." 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself "We were both in the photograph." that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed business." the stones. brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I which it had come upon my father." Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, occupations.' and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then