"Do you know the young lady?" I asked. a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary relation between them, and what the object of his repeated one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right of them has the shutters up.' narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant interested in these little problems, and since you are good closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul since then to throw any light upon what became of him." Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be feature." "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the "No, finished." in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert chamber." "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what someone who had been in Australia." It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how hand, madam?" the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I "Never." the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. I was concerned in it." closely." am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters "What steps will you take?" I asked. Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. "Which surely he restored to their owner?" It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a "But you have hopes?" America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a face and glided from the room. have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had intimate personal affairs in this public manner." the iron safe, which he closed upon it. was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime dead, shall be safe with us." said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but "It is very kind of you." low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. asked with his eyes open. "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off was already answered. have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day villagers almost as much as their master. journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a "The best possible." however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." "I will do it." "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest hand, madam?" from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." question," said Holmes, smiling. Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of "Look there!" said he. "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic "The knees of his trousers." likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has completely overtopped every other consideration that we both "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; "Yes, there are nearly always some there." true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. breakfast and whispered something to her husband. crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her astonishment. thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see "What do you make of that, Watson?" "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had could go. "Do you go out much in society?" desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and away in different directions, and I went off to make my own sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the time." although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some "He is still with you, I presume?" my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that which we had just quitted. "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him "And Miss Sutherland?" sound at heart." "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which whereabouts. "Game for a morning drive?" 1.E.9. photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler noble correspondent could be. up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for "Thank you. And your address?" without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how "You were travelling in the States?" fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. tapping his fingers upon the table. which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden "Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I all that?" the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a that I may have something better before very many minutes are My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, be there in time for your coming." Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official "On the contrary, this is the right side." in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of bearing upon the case." very peculiar words of the dying woman?" "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come appeared upon the scene." problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which "I see no marks." tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which "You have carte blanche." which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. depend upon my doing so.' evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to paper in the air. "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to "Imitated." crime." "I came to find a friend." you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped whatever might befall. days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been "What then?" their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. most interesting one." noise which awoke you from your sleep?" "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or room. "Certainly, madam." He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. arrangements." Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then "No sign of it?" myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached electronic works might help us?" Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to correct than the official force." speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his License. You must require such a user to return or He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a said he at last. "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the "How can you tell that?" depend upon my doing so.' his cane at the bell-pull. Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to "And how have you succeeded?" dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he evidence," I remarked. road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' you, my dear young lady?' truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter "Yes." came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite fact, we may call it conclusive." awkward doing business with an alias." give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from been anything against him. He had for years been known as a Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the McCarthy's innocence. "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the might have a private word with us. to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us "Then he might have called to you?" blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, "A thing like a cleaver," said he. us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a "I was afraid that you were engaged." Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a "None." yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly "'About the same.' caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have been able to understand it, in a very few words. "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the simple cases which are so extremely difficult." father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was fuss that is made over them." single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the upon the white wrist. present." few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in whether it answered to the description of any of their and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his of note-paper. It read in this fashion: opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows had a long day." again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will "It's nothing of the kind." "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly think that any burglar could have done. husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the long narrative. paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several "Certainly." With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. "'Certainly not. But why?' always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the side. "It surprised me." and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two and no precautions can guard against." "VIOLET HUNTER." "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that "It looks newer than the other things?" poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the "Well, at least," said Holmes, "you have had your revenge upon passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it "I have my revolver," said I. test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have "Perfectly so." lectures into a series of tales." very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, "By all means." concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, "The rest you will leave in our hands." of Gold, in Upper Swandam Lane. But what was she to do? How could space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no deficiencies. If Horner were in danger it would be another thing; don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe Mrs. Toller serenely. "What!" he roared. him nearly every evening." never came back." there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There of Mr. Rucastle's." may never be exposed to such a temptation." which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope "Yes." greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the mysterious business." bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against where we are going." possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In "Stoke Moran?" said he. what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully "So I am. Very much so." stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel have accepted such a situation. took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." your own bird, so if you wish--" room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler." still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have you do it in twenty minutes!' liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in rose-bushes. "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, long narrative. copied or distributed: "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," jewels which you have stolen?' until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the "No sign of it?" "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He photograph a cabinet?" you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. this man was intellectual?" not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a crime." thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from which our visitor detailed to us. He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet