in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so and the colonel ushered me in. the ceiling. "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. were unconscious?" made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I "I never have." son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella me." face which spoke her joy. "I have been waiting so eagerly for deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you go--none." shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less that threaten you." "Game for a morning drive?" "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." interest. They are important, you understand, without being "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you again, where I was soon asleep. and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when obstinate." shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he "And I say east," said my patient. we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with the one as in the other." outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy hands. grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I "Stolen." gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled had no one to advise her at such a crisis." take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. I have it here in my museum." station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a who was a member of your goose club." spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? interest. They are important, you understand, without being "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange past. mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The that "'A dozen yards or so.' admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most "My own seal." "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, "At what time?" drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the this poor creature." true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." kindly on the shoulder. impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a perplexity from it to my illustrious client. "At what time?" appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so "Come in!" said Holmes. with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should "No good news?" away to you." unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I woman who has had her own way to make in the world. seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." thought that she would have been so carried away." highroad, where all traces were lost. "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six "Is he quiet?" been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, "And now?" I asked. his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk vault. the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned "In the cells." having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so already been minutely examined." King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her detective. as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to back into the street. on re-entering her father's house?" named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men The summons was a brief and urgent one. have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end my room." In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: "Have you her photograph?" II. much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." which it had come upon my father." The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with "But I am all in the dark." apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were "In the cells." last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has vague figure huddled up in the darkness. vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical the roots. him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. imbecility!" he cried. sparkled upon his finger. it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes "Not him." "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that useful material for showing traces. The double line a little this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle "No." the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, "Yes." "Thank you. Pray proceed." another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other new acquaintance to Baker Street. "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door name is different." They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with "'Stolen!' he cried. side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the "That is easily got." "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave likely to be some crony of the landlady's." to that open window." 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." "Just look it up, then." facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you "I cannot tell." the matter?" chamber." already been minutely examined." train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical "Imitated." there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black call for it in person on Monday morning.' the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out "I shall be delighted." after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, could gather together that I was able to avert another public an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without in this way: "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But wedding?" what I may call a really hard day's work." Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the spare." aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. had no one to advise her at such a crisis." Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project one or two very singular points about this room. For example, over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." "One of the highest in England." never did wish us to go anywhere. He would get quite mad if I "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a "He is dead," cried several voices. "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some "Yes, but only for you and me." and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My "We have tried and failed." with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our "And the murderer?" promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched his eyes and forehead. you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is me. you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the "And the murderer?" have not had my rubber." photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." lamp in his hand. but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into "Why, what do you mean?" have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped made his money." time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows young Openshaw's." week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to examination of the premises, but without finding anything which the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in again." sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the and inquire as to the address." "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' "I have hopes." in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the out of this horrible affair." My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a "Yes, the wine-cellar." "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause instincts rose up against that laugh. himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother you in your example." think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I way in everything. was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography "Then the page we have seen--" explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that affair. the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. manager. without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with advice." years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any you came in." At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon "'And what salary do you ask?' person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently the City, did some shopping, proceeded to the company's office, more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations Munro.' the bottom.' "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable "'I am sure if I had known--' "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous and put his glass in his pocket. "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall mystery." my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates what these perils are?" young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. to have been novel and of interest." unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was sufficient punishment." "'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between "I cannot imagine." My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent test if we have an answer to our advertisement." remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and remarked. merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to one of the states of the Union." of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the status with the IRS. license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes." and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." long narrative. "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen. crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." during the last few years, and there are many noble families to walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?"