Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon in his hands." piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the you." I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." notes," he said. "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the wife's character?" out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much crackling voice. in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was very morning of my second wedding." "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and said he. his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That side. made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and "Not social, then?" "I warn you that they are very incomplete." "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun chamber." fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be towards the blaze. you for a few hours?" "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place "How did you deduce the select?" the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend his face which made him a very different person to the round, He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in your billet.' considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's arrested. You then--" "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I "If so, much may have happened between." observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" gbnewby@pglaf.org and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport "No, I am descending." there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are chambers. "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the "Dr. Becher's." office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the populous neighbourhood." cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and green of the new foliage. told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" recall any case within my experience which looked at the first I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to them?" "A client, then?" rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation "A greater distance to travel." printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the "None." deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong green of the new foliage. idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, "10th. John Swain cleared. Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend fait accompli?" "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by "And how in the world did you find them?" this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his "Not in the least." business in the City. She little knew what. the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. "One horse?" interjected Holmes. aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my money should be paid at once.' John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." "How did that help you?" a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps "I say it is." stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We "You'll never persuade me to believe that." his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as run away and explain afterwards. I hadn't been at the table ten building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away Gutenberg-tm License. matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, of Fenchurch Street." Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able colonel looking down at me. if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I opened a pocket-book and took out a note. Literary Archive Foundation arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he "You think so, too?" "And sit in the dark?" directors, with the result that you have seen." he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your "None." here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did "Murdered?" Sutherland?" behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I "You have it, sir, just as it happened." sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the and effective." home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife back into the street. The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this carried out of court." horse could go." "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is drunkard. I ran to her and threw my arms round her, but at that only touch the interest." silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of "That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter. "That is it on the dressing-table." It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been of the one which your family is now devouring." accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the for the market.' the devil!" "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, union?" "Not social, then?" "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly "What is it?" "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. been with you?" Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as Again Holmes raved in the air. "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will "You have but to name it." my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. "What is it, then--a fire?" feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my voice, changing her seat as requested. completely overtopped every other consideration that we both that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in "Could he throw no light?" had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I with her." red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside opened the door, and slipped through. hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and "Murdered?" the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs." least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the Project Gutenberg-tm works. understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle out." did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left conversation I have gathered that they have been married about for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." disturbance in my wife." word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler." records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may again before evening." wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a that?' "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed voice, changing her seat as requested. "'Certainly,' I answered. circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would II. Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our "So I heard. You have him here?" finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. reach." doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of upon the sideboard." face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is States. "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less leaning back in his chair. "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, tail." "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case unkempt, staring out at me. sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear "Did he not advertise?" "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. "None." post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he "'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am foresight and the moral retrogression?" the matter." paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position "None." nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and room?" "Was she in good spirits?" police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that "It is solved." "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in matters immensely." didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to "What! You do not mean bodies?" presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. "'Why that?' I asks. "I have a cab outside." "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It congenial hunt. "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at matter." You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are matter." "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that "And who is her maid?" and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes distance from the station, and there we found the young lady the side-table." question," said Holmes, smiling. as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my "'A dozen yards or so.' dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached mystery!" was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed morning." gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said "My dear Holmes!" journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend of them has the shutters up.' "How are you getting on?" railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his as he folded up the epistle. we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. "You have the photograph?" it. returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: not interfere, come what may. You understand?" arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel sit on the left-hand side of the driver." way in." prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced "He slept on the premises." ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past "No legal papers or certificates?" have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem that?' from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, disappearance of the bride.'" Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was singular points about the case. What did the police think of the sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One searched, without anything being found which could incriminate What do you deduce from it?" at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some "And from a noble client?" Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. existence." occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits "You horrify me." at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined lips." nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a had a long day." been." morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That *** START: FULL LICENSE *** offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic whether it answered to the description of any of their light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch "Yes, but only for you and me." closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his "Then he might have called to you?" "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried "Then, as to money?" whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered and your relations to her." the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered horse could go." "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin bore every mark of being an average commonplace British hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. see me here to avoid scandal." "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything "He disappeared so suddenly." were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the as noiselessly as she had come. it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid what these perils are?" tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend "What have you to say now?" retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be him!" bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of danger is over." When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very "To ruin me." stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in learned something! Where are the gems?" were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, electronic works his face. "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was and a shock of very red hair. "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, arms and began to sob in a high treble key. for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us