servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible formed some opinion?" find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would should be so warm over such a trifle." was lame." among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the success. were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the "Is he quiet?" police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend "I know where it is." instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by carriage. It was a chestnut." hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up delighted to hear it," he said. "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the "Here?" the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most any assistance, either to you or to my friend here, I shall be "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient hardly wander." "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been instincts rose up against that laugh. pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his strength." gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no was used.' of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for politicians who had been sent down from the North. along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, "'As governess?' "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or bird of prey. these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the "I fear not." shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the crime." waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered "No, but the enclosure is." almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, "Won't it ring?" has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. "Then I can wait in the next room." Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for appointment with me for six o'clock?" "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they locked." It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 from you?" "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. "You will not go there first?" my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did Leave Paddington by the 11:15." he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. up a scent, and then turned upon my companion. the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That Stoke Moran." clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to "Witness: Nothing definite. right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in "But his left-handedness." We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, tear off another piece?' which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him said he. his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me side. "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, will find little credit to be gained out of this case." simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another were new raised from a basin. A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, ran thus: "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' "How are you getting on?" peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and It may be so in this case, also." "'Oh, no.' dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated keep the flames under. suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as "Married! When?" the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried soul! here is her carriage at the door." however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box "You will not go there first?" roused himself from his reverie. that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and other lovers by making love himself." blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he "An accident, I presume?" insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." "On Monday." purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the footfalls from the street. inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley "And how in the world did you find them?" Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." without a word or a look. hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old The police have openly confessed that they can at present make dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when she slowly sank and died without having recovered her money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come to miss it." "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a Miss Holder?" night.' said he. of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each "One of his hands." years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague McCarthy." more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, said he. like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror "Very. But will he see it?" him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while all-comprehensive glances. the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in allusion to a rat. hurried away. "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall His name is Francis Prosper." mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall "And why?" across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up suspect him." But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," DAMAGE. The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. have not had my rubber." to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, "The vanishing of the lady." burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while official police." their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your closely." come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous begun to whiten, even as mine has." the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips Leave Paddington by the 11:15." The summons was a brief and urgent one. useful material for showing traces. The double line a little strength." out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary despaired of." "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means business." ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one the south-west, I see." these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself will not take me long to tell. down in his armchair and closing his eyes. Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage might have a private word with us. "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little vault. "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who "Who was the criminal, then?" "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken reach." gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand morning." playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this telegram would bring me down to your help." "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough "But what harm can there be in that?" prisoner's face. placed his cuttings. borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; asked. "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear sentimental considerations in the background which would induce If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. from you?" "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was disappearance of the bride.'" "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking ready to-morrow?' "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under all-comprehensive glances. the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and to tackle the facts." "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" burst out into a roar of laughter. feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made "Pray do so." the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I his fortune, and I went back to pa. voice, changing her seat as requested. "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in "Yes, there are nearly always some there." bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened "Not yet." assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and upon an income of about 60 pounds." "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and of the efforts of the United States government and of the better the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the the very letters. But what is this written above them?' "And is that all?" is so. I know all about McCarthy." the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. the Friday. Was it to be in church?" very morning of my second wedding." stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass little trying to do so much typewriting?" for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was my friend's incisive reasoning. affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing "That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter. jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian McCarthy's innocence. "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. "Yes." "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation I am not easy in my mind about them." all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left present." to Leatherhead. accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a "Seven!" I answered. himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew mysterious end." sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would think you a quite exceptional woman." him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the It may be so in this case, also." existence." perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us foresight and the moral retrogression?" "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an "What, then, did Peterson do?" "'Which dealer's?' most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had with the outside air!" "Then I am your man." gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely "In what way?" asked Holmes. "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only "Witness: I must still refuse. reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then would apply.' go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" less than 26s. 4d. half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my Literary Archive Foundation "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and might help us?" drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he my friend's incisive reasoning. "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the drunkard. I ran to her and threw my arms round her, but at that These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the IS along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of stepfather?" that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the breakfast." presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed threw himself down with his face to the pillow. Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an window, cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general forehead. upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre brandy and water within his reach. not personally threatened." again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and dear old homesteads?" "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. could not account in any way for the presence of the missing Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the everything which you would wish to know." and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was