typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business humiliation." roused himself from his reverie. their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his foresight and the moral retrogression?" error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at we went to search for him, face downward in a little what I may call a really hard day's work." impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic "That also I could fathom." Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." call for it in person on Monday morning.' understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' to you." Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for think that any burglar could have done. original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may best detective that ever lived. or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely "And how in the world did you find them?" his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold "No." The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who even of instruction." trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into "I shall most certainly do so." Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I suggested at once that there must be a communication between the "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him never to learn it at all." a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other better grown goose." play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and appointment with me for six o'clock?" carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." to-night." I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. you?" many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of drawing your inferences." smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been my foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it "Always." Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you "'What do you call purely nominal?' that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy really the only notable feature about the thing." hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." until night should bring an explanation. swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very "You have the photograph?" indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could "And when will you call?" in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should "Where did he live, then?" brandy and water within his reach. "I have hopes." began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old occurred." 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," "That's no good." finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid which I could not give. He asked for Alice. was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I that, and I came down." violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a reach." first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your passage and a tap at the door. previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to walking." followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. of a light. the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." some water from a caraffe. conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the "I fear not." "Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to just called myself is not exactly my own." recover the gem." A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, electronic works It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove present." to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the "I am still in the dark." This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: "We must sit without light. He would see it through the but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp that?' Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the was the fact that his father should, according to his account, "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after despaired of." vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my head. So long, then!" "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity "But I have heard all that you have heard." on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she heavy and sharp instrument." "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" his face. had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a "I have my revolver," said I. disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it "And is that all?" in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were directors, with the result that you have seen." sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now assist you in forming an opinion." *** START: FULL LICENSE *** was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a papers must be those that are destroyed.' over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed read over the extraordinary announcement. within hail.' "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of "I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple the loss of it. and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was trifles." "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door outsides of the windows. to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that lumber-room." too. highroad, where all traces were lost. seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of "Then I shall certainly come." Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from here can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of "Not particularly." "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. "One?" "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a been shamefully used." room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low "'What then?' I asked. them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting "'Not at all. I only doubt--' his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most of the way of danger. "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at down. who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of that the gas is not laid on in his house?" "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do the warnings." instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little me what he had done with the three missing stones. walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes." can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the do you make of it all?" go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I to arrive at through this?" offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, shoulder. "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me exactly what you advise." hardly wander." "My Mary? Impossible!" can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, know that the truth is known." A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way galvanised. smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, galvanised. acquaintance?" "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his "When did it break out?" "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at III. Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, "One?" the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a "It's nothing of the kind." "You have the photograph?" he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not "'Certainly,' I answered. chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they one or two very singular points about this room. For example, "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice "My Mary? Impossible!" "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen had no one to advise her at such a crisis." "What then?" As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but "Pray be precise as to details," said he. twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in Stoke Moran." "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock "Ha! you find it so?" had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was notes," he said. or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. suddenly upon us." said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, criminal. We have already had experience of such." work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. papers on the sundial.'" In this way you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of an "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. we went to search for him, face downward in a little and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to maiden herself was most instructive." the warnings." "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making call the police, let the police find what they can.' smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the people in all walks of life. over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change this poor creature." address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales newspaper selections." gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the tightly behind him. desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment "To an English lawyer named Norton." "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know "Pray be precise as to details," said he. "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we "In what way?" asked Holmes. values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have of them has the shutters up.' public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had reach." "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and asked. is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our "Nothing?" persecution?" head. So long, then!" thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. "On the contrary, this is the right side." lumber-room." putting in the horse. paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on outsides of the windows. equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it have accepted such a situation. "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third during which he might have communicated with his friend the secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and coroner's jury." "'And the work?' Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. details should find their way into the papers. Inspector peculiar to him. photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." "Come in!" said Holmes. reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the it." new acquaintance to Baker Street. girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, in. breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, the Friday. Was it to be in church?" ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and with her." his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. points to suicide?" you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a "Indeed! Whose, then?" nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this been lifted and conveyed somewhere." appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such depend upon your compliance." was it brought him the coronet? Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece