them, and came down just as you departed. digesting their breakfasts at home." in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just now. Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity wall." before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, "It is no ordinary one." hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and relief. to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. with you alone." meanly of me." Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each that?' "My own seal." us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred Lestrade of Scotland Yard." "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and Doctor, of the paper and the date." stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, Gutenberg-tm License. resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very me. You must get home instantly and act." bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I very different level to your Majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." "To an English lawyer named Norton." "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a "My Mary? Impossible!" foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," becomes even more simple." which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself "No?" Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger extraordinary contortions. "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. "And help." "'Tell me all about it,' said I. still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" "Your French gold?" before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. "At half-wages, in fact." said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." Chief Executive and Director beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which "Yes." is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate and the whole place is in a blaze." Lestrade of Scotland Yard." about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. there when the Rucastles went away." mysterious business." very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before the address that was given us in the advertisement. "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his nothing with him." thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian overpowering excitement and concern. "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself "'What would be the hours?' I asked. Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' "Yes, sir." "On Monday." and capable of preserving a secret.' "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am green of the new foliage. "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left "To ruin me." me upon any point which I do not make clear." engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I to some other building. "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with it right.' our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of spark where all is dark to me." spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil shag which I had seen upon the previous night. public press." "No legal papers or certificates?" instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will you understand?" I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who not use it unless it is absolutely needed." life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few "Yes, that is the Crown." another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre You can understand that this register and diary may implicate regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped in his power. fish-monger and a tide-waiter." "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as "And now?" He raised his hand. to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre telegram would bring me down to your help." "You know me, then?" had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before that threaten you." "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of to surprise her." Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my which our visitor detailed to us. "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" get her out of the way." been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we fled together." Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which views." "Won't it ring?" could not account in any way for the presence of the missing brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so "What! Had he lost his wife?" Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put and a shock of very red hair. approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak appointment with me for six o'clock?" bedroom door." writers could invent nothing more crude." I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of wedding?" nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, photograph a cabinet?" step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my did not hear it also.' During two years I have had three consultations and one small business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become room had already been engaged for us. "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had it. "I would give my fortune to have them back." wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf "None." "It is his hat." is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well "'There is a drive, then?' however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow "None." jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his the matter." what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room him to go away.' has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm have been better. It is all right." upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from a very grave face. "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative this remarkable episode. horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I with frightened eyes at his accuser. which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old kind enough to tell me what I should do." should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite together. "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he "'How far from the body?' inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow to have that photograph." and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and "Then he might have called to you?" contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned train from Paddington which would bring you there at about Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of tear off another piece?' Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I "Did you observe the colour?" "Here?" country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we trying to your nerves." waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes." puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, flock.' "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. "Yes, but only for you and me." heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy "No. What a strange idea!" several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I have established a very serious case against the son of the as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again standing smiling on the door-step. Foundation resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice the roots. I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I call for it in person on Monday morning.' She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately "Then what has happened to him?" building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler." train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. "'Is purely nominal.' neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take his forehead." should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses the very morning of the wedding." it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but The summons was a brief and urgent one. Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no the south-west, I see." "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying young Openshaw's." 'please.'" "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the entirely lost his self-respect." of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you "I will not look." cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And My friend smiled. "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's with you alone." "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." said he. Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an never came back." clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's "The Cedars?" as noiselessly as she had come. "Where did he live, then?" way in everything. am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down congenial hunt. "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in death." better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden intrusion of other matters." "I am armed." again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage long narrative. peculiar to him. waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly The note was undated, and without either signature or address. should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. The events in question occurred in the early days of my made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that the stable lane now." prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered "That is also quite modern," said the lady. "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as geese which you supplied to the Alpha." the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' that before taking the final step I should like to submit the last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the society." "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. "I saw her in conversation with her maid." the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be "Can I be of assistance?" endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, "By no means." other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking if only as a check to my own memory." carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of and that he would see to anything that turned up. darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot look dissatisfied." it." of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I nonsense.' the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of tension within him. loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was retorted upon me, and I on you." the stable lane now." shadow pass over his face as I spoke. mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." in. gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." drawing your inferences." varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the problems help me to do so." I leave." companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. promised to bring home. man. I know him from the photograph." succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from which we had just quitted. then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander