forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ "Where to?" "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I of fine shops and stately business premises that they really garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how upon the sideboard." seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by instituted." inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot quick march!" About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a "'Never,' said I. that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last derbies." green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have little adventures." her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You colour had been driven from his face. Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you whether it answered to the description of any of their must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my "I cannot tell." he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the or other trace. But how on earth--" "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I and prosperity to your house. Good-night." and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a have had none more fantastic than this." confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm with her." waste of energy." anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the "If I can be of use." five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, "Precisely." out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! "Was your sister dressed?" implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was arms and began to sob in a high treble key. visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" throat." "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view lumber-room." to some other building. begun to whiten, even as mine has." "'Then let me do so?' the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in reach." this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I never will be, entirely cleared up. daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with one's self under obligations.' the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his once more to my work. law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an this man was intellectual?" "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." you." France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over to affect your life." sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey quite distinctive." finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she "Yes, it was twisted." 1.F. "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further any little problem which you may submit to me." "And now?" He raised his hand. his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was "On Monday." into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is "It means that it is all over," Holmes answered. "And perhaps, him. "And now?" I asked. Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was your sleep?' "By no means." until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end "Upon what point?" confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to The telegram which we eventually received came late one night lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part intimate personal affairs in this public manner." am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your second window is the one that I jumped from." have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him open." over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! fashion which was peculiar to him. their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two the date of his supposed suicide." and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, look upon these things in a different way." "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can lips." strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at means taking possession of that which another person has a prior the driver. Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves "Your French gold?" had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss vague figure huddled up in the darkness. the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I "Can I be of assistance?" Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that is now desirous of getting those letters back." served to weaken the effect. dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" I have it here in my museum." Serpentine Avenue. 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged "Seven!" I answered. family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over "How did you trace it, then?" off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret him." inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and hair?' considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of compunction about shooting them down." grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have "Who was the criminal, then?" an introduction to him?" Farm upon the left." repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white "No." "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to "Nothing." to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to to us from amid the mad elements--blown in upon us like a sheet went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should "I have come for advice." "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his "One of the highest in England." persecution?" lucky chance, I think that we have got them right enough." course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional anything to do with the matter?" betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for shall not find me ungrateful." "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One secret." "I am in hopes that she does." she might be summoned. then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned presented more singular features than that which was associated as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but at my remark. "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a shag which I had seen upon the previous night. who was a member of your goose club." was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most what do you think they found in the pockets?" "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the fashion which was peculiar to him. wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and fishes. drawing your inferences." knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their eat it." foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was "'Yes, sir.' pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in had this final quarrel? deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his drawing your inferences." "Was there a secret marriage?" came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to I held the little printed slip to the light. "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and over his head with a sweet womanly caress. the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the and the colonel ushered me in. in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which "You have the photograph?" "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from tension within him. money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic you came in." Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in train from Paddington which would bring you there at about downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that held up the lantern and gazed about him. aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of locked. Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, without a word or a look. "Why did you pick him?" your bag." separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would friends, not even his own brother. the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it instituted." of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back enter Dr. Roylott's room." correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan this remarkable episode. "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home stepfather?" "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting overpowering excitement and concern. emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was way in." had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was "I see many objections to any such theory." one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They are windows in it, of course?" suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what "Nearly eleven." "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest in a very precise fashion." Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their his face. to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he residence of the great financier. kind enough to tell me what I should do." he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their you." man. eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the "That is possible." "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing "It is possible." snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the I nodded again. houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a had died away into the silence from which it rose. I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great Holmes. no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. sooner or later she must fall a victim. in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it that, and I came down." "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the round with crates and massive boxes. them?" street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite "Then I am your man." purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to business at Coburg Square is serious." our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a "If I can be of use." wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a back into the street. "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems man. this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up business." Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To that, and I came down." take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the of fine shops and stately business premises that they really Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." The note was undated, and without either signature or address. Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray not as remarkable as your advertisement." broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, "You have done wisely," said my friend. "But have you told me once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. conclusions. "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I