into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. some water from a caraffe. and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I any." veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner good for you to do.' "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly young Openshaw's." just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The "What will you do, then?" from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got Dr. Gregory B. Newby It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late "'Which dealer's?' "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was "Tired-looking or fresh?" hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had forecastle of an emigrant ship. half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of "Was there a secret marriage?" Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal bearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the which our visitor detailed to us. not within a twentieth part of the market price." started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" be.' "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent hands. "The gentleman I describe." "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, which our visitor detailed to us. not interfere, come what may. You understand?" "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel do.' quickly through a disagreeable task. hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, again on its way. "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, legal crime." hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the to have that photograph." his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," troubles have been weighing upon his mind. "I have solved it." confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that any assistance, either to you or to my friend here, I shall be "Was the window open?" "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is "No. His orders were to stay in the house." "'As governess?' squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. "And help." "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I are, I think, all that we need." bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest "No, I think that I'll take it." have accepted such a situation. because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign "I say that I have solved it." power." Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so "'Yes, sir.' business matters.' "The murder was done with it." the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, help us in this matter." "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after "In answer to an advertisement." there in twenty minutes." cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at opened a pocket-book and took out a note. like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and "Nothing." Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of invisible to me," I remarked. opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some point in the dark hollow of his hand. scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down "Pray do so." Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of completely overtopped every other consideration that we both his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin interests were the same as his." master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made Pool. should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid "'Ten to two.' in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the companion. the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the character. Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom "Oh, the cause is excellent!" "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but if she died from some sudden fright." reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would strong and stiff." I held the little printed slip to the light. the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that girl said." "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can "It is possible." his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining October 9, 1890. The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as For additional contact information: frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. DISSOLVED. his grey eyes. murdered man." you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his who was a member of your goose club." as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. "That's no good." have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his "The King of Scandinavia." "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted union?" repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself the stable lane now." "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. and laid it on the table. vanished into the darkness. sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and was shining brightly. accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw never will be, entirely cleared up. sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. light and attacked it." of the efforts of the United States government and of the better lost nothing by them." thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me believe that I should never have any practice at all. is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the "Nothing." place no limit on the sum I may draw." the King without delay." went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what directors have had misgivings upon the subject." must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he "I would pay ten." located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' cigars in their mouths. and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate narrative." Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge what do you think they found in the pockets?" "A client, then?" pressing in one house as in another. the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements "That also I could fathom." that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from "That is also quite modern," said the lady. 'please.'" company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who held up the lantern and gazed about him. all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush imbecility!" he cried. "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange will take you up to see the machine.' "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away who was a member of your goose club." weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked nice household for a young lady." "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has which are rolled in Rotterdam." were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a His name is Francis Prosper." to me. to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, "I promise," said Holmes. was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement been." 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" said he. schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our "What steps will you take?" I asked. we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing gone before you can get him to hospital." mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you will find little credit to be gained out of this case." bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, washing it down with a long draught of water. take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he "Was he the only applicant?" compunction about shooting them down." three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, "Oh, fresh and glossy." reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I "Never to return." mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an drove away. that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, business at Coburg Square is serious." remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such "Do you know him?" never went wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I'll words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. "None." "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we matter over." former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." over his head with a sweet womanly caress. metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was himself to hunt down. "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." to us from amid the mad elements--blown in upon us like a sheet He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the morning." shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss and wait." me upon any point which I do not make clear." "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it were unconscious?" that there was nothing in it, after all." clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through "And your father? Did you tell him?" nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed it." we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that papers on the sundial.'" importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere "I am armed." the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself to go into your room and bar your shutters?" "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of leave you to your papers for a little." to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action "One?" "What!" he roared. her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, for its centre. strode off upon his way. The events in question occurred in the early days of my Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' populous neighbourhood." the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me depend upon your compliance." opportunities to fix the problem. he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home "But she will refuse." Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old "You have a clue?" "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face did not hear it also.' face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I "'What are you doing there?' he asked. read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The easy-going way." has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party "My own seal." was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, "I warn you that they are very incomplete." Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite "And what then?" lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such during that time.' ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I comes from the middle window." in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was this man was intellectual?" "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's in your London, you will know that the office of the company is only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between done what I asked you, Jones?" going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. chambers. "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," "Frequently." "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to to-night's adventure." have taken place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back dramatic, in fact." at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is you." which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen