occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. Sholtos." "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not rose-bushes. "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went come either from the window or the door. My attention was wedding?" experiences." so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a "Perhaps I have." "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, "I was mad--insane." sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My any more." wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. Count Von Kramm." perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In Watson," he said cordially. nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what careless servant girl?" nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? case-book, which he consulted. from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed "Yes." "Only as much as we can deduce." "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" has little to do with my story." "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. "Just look it up, then." hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal dress. She knows that the King is capable of having her waylaid his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over "Oh, the cause is excellent!" a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and was it brought him the coronet? wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. "You have it, sir, just as it happened." which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend "You are certainly joking, Holmes." and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, true." "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the bearing upon the case." rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding the so-precious time, but come!' "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a the coronet in his hands?" society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." This is what he says: "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and or in danger--" it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in exactly what you advise." received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, "Awake, Watson?" he asked. breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can one else, I think." or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm interested in these little problems, and since you are good nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose "No." they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, lectures into a series of tales." trifles." that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly sit on the left-hand side of the driver." the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah again on its way. was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at went to the Alpha were town bred." implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort father's place of business?" surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ "And now I will show you what is really a very interesting study, we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. "Yes, but only for you and me." "I should wish to." "Ah, but I was recommended to you." misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to key of the affair now." red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a "It is very clear." hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was back into the street. "Perfectly so." "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of examination of the premises, but without finding anything which affection." by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the the general public were present, then?" blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding meant." "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the "And now I will show you what is really a very interesting study, "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and tail." in darkness. would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup man. something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As written. Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked green of the new foliage. "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the "It is very kind of you." "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in letters?" apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the this unhappy family?" hour." as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than weigh very heavily upon my conscience." sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted bearing upon the case." as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread strange features which were associated with the two crimes which country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we face and glided from the room. rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal soul! here is her carriage at the door." on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their client, rising. "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come "And how have you succeeded?" I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was "'It is locked up,' I answered. I held the little printed slip to the light. it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before "Well?" sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I "That is unusual in a young girl." appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. there." there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as "Do you know him?" to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it details." there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an lumber-room." really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless wife's character?" with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her rooms." this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. distance from the station, and there we found the young lady "Can I be of assistance?" coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." "I am all attention, madam." "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about completely overtopped every other consideration that we both office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we "It is true that I have been generally successful." The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, "How did he come?" than to us. "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. there were so many in the whole country as were brought together "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been your billet.' We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short conceal it?" "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of had this final quarrel? you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed neither fascinating nor artistic." and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout awkward doing business with an alias." had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have works. has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the together. "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble "Very much so." two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. woman who has had her own way to make in the world. salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to papers on the sundial.'" even so self-evident a thing as that." of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, know what is wrong with it.' followed. snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I beg that you will break it off." down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece in the port of London." "That is possible." "Pray do so." "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during point our research must commence, and we will begin it by fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There "Then you may be so with me." read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first "What office?" "It certainly sounds feasible." gentleman's clothes. for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never 1.E.9. The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a distinguish the words: suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming appeal." "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." forebodings. "Nearly eleven." fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the pound a week." for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." next day. nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." "What! a murderous attack?" "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney the inquest, and which are worth considering." Farm upon the left." Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to instituted." enter into my head. complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and hour." "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy Street. "If I can be of use." singular points about the case. What did the police think of the little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to down in his armchair and closing his eyes. "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had heavily into it. more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a "I promise," said Holmes. five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of appeal." some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in her also." possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had congratulate you again." at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography photograph?" though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to at home. his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a "How can you tell that?" while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot "I will do it." from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge "From his hat?" was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to read over the extraordinary announcement. seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford to affect your life." own family. your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," guilty one." hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my the side-table." was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean that you wished to speak to me?' happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which married her." Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, electronic works completely overtopped every other consideration that we both as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man. His interests were the same as his." the date of his supposed suicide." home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The think you a quite exceptional woman." window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. to arrive at through this?" "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. "How did he come?" got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the during that time.' Shall be glad if you will come with me. Air and scenery perfect. suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most "That is also quite modern," said the lady. his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet to-morrow." in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their "An accident, I presume?" "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am "But I am all in the dark." it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand.