"You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A tightly behind him. said I. narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you "Get out!" said he. of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a notes," he said. wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without attention." they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis "That is easily got." slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms up a scent, and then turned upon my companion. really the only notable feature about the thing." "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had assist you in forming an opinion." events, Mr. Windibank!" "So it appears." dress. She knows that the King is capable of having her waylaid My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the persecution?" as this. Pray let me have the details." Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying questioning and rather startled gaze. away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the jaw, it is surely very clear that that side is less illuminated which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly murdered man." a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and For additional contact information: "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, what these perils are?" "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go him nearly every evening." that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel have had none more fantastic than this." more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong with you?" "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to words came to my lips. It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been three fields round his house, and there he would take his large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may "To an end?" during the last few years, and there are many noble families to buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his that I am arrested." still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried of Mr. Rucastle's." but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must things are very often connected not with the larger but with the especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you "'And what salary do you ask?' think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the "She walked into the breakfast-room." passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken begun to whiten, even as mine has." thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon "Nothing?" the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call about. inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after one's self under obligations.' morning." wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in just called myself is not exactly my own." and the church but not where the lady lived." position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years "I cannot as yet see any connection." companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A "He slept on the premises." "At what time?" papers diligently of late, have you not?" "And you can do nothing until then?" on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss is a common subject for conversation. "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind. coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back know that the truth is known." fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil You want to know what became of those geese?" any little problem which you may submit to me." my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding place, I think that there is good ground to think that the He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a address. is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were presented which may be striking and bizarre without being like gravel from a pit.' set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with "'How far from the body?' between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the fire. You quite follow me?" of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the shoulder. the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to train.' constraint." after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be will be renamed. Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I appeal." impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the "Yes, the wine-cellar." - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever "'Yes, sir.' turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" unclasping of his long thin hands. from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so is four-and-twenty." "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is little trying to do so much typewriting?" "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, bore every mark of being an average commonplace British upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go observed. providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced "And how in the world did you find them?" reach." and no precautions can guard against." hereditary King of Bohemia." right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your "Absolutely none." have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest himself to tell his story. every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. lamp in his hand. DISSOLVED. "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of to me. companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could "Then he might have called to you?" 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man vanished into the darkness. "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle "Has he come with you to-night?" walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and train from Paddington which would bring you there at about as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which do.' over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my "May I see it?" "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from narrative." not, dad?" she asked. up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose "Absolutely none." everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the "But the mystery?" His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some to us from amid the mad elements--blown in upon us like a sheet mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the to his chemical studies. I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, been deceived." very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your you, my dear young lady?' people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as "Very well, sir. And this stone?" brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." rat could hardly pass through." "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case "Where to?" Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we relief. "To an English lawyer named Norton." the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time "Well, at least," said Holmes, "you have had your revenge upon opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a been with you?" his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of "What is it, then--a fire?" you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" I have it here in my museum." had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low happened." "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of For additional contact information: "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." "I have my revolver," said I. myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have until night should bring an explanation. present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is more terrible than the truth. and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under confronted him. hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present "Ten will be early enough." madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I "But we can't all be." "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite I nodded again. was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid the Red-headed League." was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went helping a boy to put up the shutters. year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." you found me to-night--and running through the front room she learned something! Where are the gems?" already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed "The knees of his trousers." One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' "Dirty?" whereabouts. "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of him and tried to hold him back. "Was the window open?" ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss empty. Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such back alive. found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than "He said too much." "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." straightened it out again. "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these "'Is purely nominal.' long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke again." "Well, at least," said Holmes, "you have had your revenge upon you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of "What are they?" which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was was a loud and authoritative tap. its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a think, you have already met." all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he the loss of it. was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the the Red-headed League." was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; one of the states of the Union." pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. gone before you can get him to hospital." morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and "At the wedding breakfast." "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." him, that man would not have given me such complete information outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, "It was a confession," I ejaculated. "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; three of the beryls in it, was missing. the loss of it. any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, Holmes." "And Irene Adler?" "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her in the port of London." crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows "That was it, sir." "I cannot tell." "She will not sell." however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were mystery." "I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent Countess of Morcar's?" "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a "Oh, the cause is excellent!" "Because he was handy and would come cheap." "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of the iron safe, which he closed upon it. indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness suddenly upon us." it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own keep the flames under. "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which "'Quite sure, dad.' disappearance of the bride.'" enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of definite end. "I will try. What is it?" out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned