In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and at once, for I have only half an hour." Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement over with notes and figures. of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar straightened it out again. "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the "'What are you doing there?' he asked. think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. "It certainly sounds feasible." adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." you want, then?' it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & sentimental considerations in the background which would induce fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly I am not easy in my mind about them." that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had lips." "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. "I don't say that. Perhaps." that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of "No, finished." accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she if she died from some sudden fright." brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes arrangements." "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off "I am still in the dark." The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements "At the wedding breakfast." after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and drawing your inferences." "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon discontent upon his features. other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug him to be an active member of the medical profession." head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed the stable lane now." running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella what do you think they found in the pockets?" robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who thin, with a long, sharp nose?" which should have the effect of calling the attention of the on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of anything to do with the matter?" The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed "And I." distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than Eyford at 11:15.' her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side individual and becomes the badge of a society." it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do Pool. purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to "Nothing." steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be he. loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small "How on earth--" his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say "Yes." little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the sake, don't!" "I should like to see him very much." public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm Dr. Gregory B. Newby "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? "I shall be delighted." acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and "Tired-looking or fresh?" "Deserted you?" grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was the address that was given us in the advertisement. "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. "What have you to say now?" thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." closing the door. mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." security.' jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." woman who has had her own way to make in the world. sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin ran thus: material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the "What is it, then--a fire?" room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It "No, I am descending." contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between "I will not look." a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have the date of his supposed suicide." "I have seen the police." to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. "I have a cab outside." and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at "And did you observe any change in her then?" at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His floor. went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" "That you are never beaten." dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and "It is very kind of you." "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood easy-going way." I leave." any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then you, my dear young lady?' "The knees of his trousers." "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said voice, changing her seat as requested. Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but you in your example." "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us have got?" "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the "Did he not advertise?" of your young ladies.' "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative "What, then, did Peterson do?" "None." furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those fish-monger and a tide-waiter." "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the of your young ladies.' remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. notes," he said. and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name "You know me, then?" "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. "Dark enough and sinister enough." came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small "But I have heard all that you have heard." twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with "It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, "Never." bird of prey. room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, train from Paddington which would bring you there at about my special province." and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." was keenly on my guard against him. "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I read it out to me." wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." for the market.' these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or "At half-wages, in fact." printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a "One horse?" interjected Holmes. "You have it, sir, just as it happened." upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that into the bag, and made for the door. purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the "'Which dealer's?' story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears in darkness. "Well, it is a possible supposition." to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the mysterious end." called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in not fit the lock." assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are wedding?" silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now subject to the trademark license, especially commercial time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third be.' and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" "Nothing?" "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your "What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated. my friend's incisive reasoning. mysterious business." Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here the one as in the other." we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two "In San Francisco, a year ago." do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking for securing the situation." Serpentine Avenue. snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing lumber-room." amused." Doctor, of the paper and the date." "Deserted you?" 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man security.' "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" "Won't it ring?" "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I disturbance in my wife." as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not all?" stood on the top of it. "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our "Can I be of assistance?" She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. business." My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in seven miles from Eyford Station.' public press." "But of what society?" first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call "And your mother is alive?" firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that fuss that is made over them." broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, will be renamed. "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand unprecedented a position." pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she very old mansion. "Certainly." "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. "Do you know him?" a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he "Stoke Moran?" said he. fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is "Quite so. She has her freedom." to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and "No, but the enclosure is." "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the least a fellow-countryman. I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked hereditary King of Bohemia." the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with think that any burglar could have done. was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning good-night and bustled off upon her way. must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he to some other building. "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." key of the affair now." which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had "I think that I had better go, Holmes." never to learn it at all." you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other "That also I could fathom." I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the envelope. of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would out of this horrible affair." however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do things are very often connected not with the larger but with the occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but "Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly, out of this horrible affair." "How can you tell that?" Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so "It is no ordinary one." "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a "That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter. the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you during which he might have communicated with his friend the Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might "Why did you pick him?" awaited us upon the table. with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" "It missed him, then?" 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a "Yes, they were peculiar boots." corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual of his shoulders. severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was the Red-headed League." little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative the coronet in his hand?" I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour weapon." "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her straighten it?" livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we with you alone." in a very precise fashion." hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should "It must be recovered." and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came