"Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in guilty parties." "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the it right.' cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock "I should like to see him very much." "Pray do so." let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place constraint." posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left country, and eventually married, without anyone having a puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for simple cases which are so extremely difficult." quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen, to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. to some other building. "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the comes from the middle window." tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in guilty one." the running down." "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? "Not social, then?" Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran depend upon my doing so.' Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even orange pips. "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the undoubtedly my uncle's." this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a drove away. means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever bare slabs of marble. civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. "His face fell immediately. "I saw her in conversation with her maid." heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I are, and they are waiting for us." "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such with you alone." dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the quickly through a disagreeable task. no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign highroad, where all traces were lost. my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long Good-afternoon, Miss Stoner. You see that we have been as good as her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the have I gained?" way in everything. "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my dates and names. bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in the matter?" were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. "I could hardly believe my ears. As you may observe, Mr. Holmes, pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much "Two days later this same performance was gone through under disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it "The landlord of the Alpha." "How did he come?" The events in question occurred in the early days of my out." had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the unprecedented a position." this poor creature." "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, was the fact that his father should, according to his account, The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind upon a handsome competence. he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across "'What are you doing there?' he asked. puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be question you as to those details which seem to me to be most those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." at home. if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. "No, I had a dozen." same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the matter over." address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had "Two days later this same performance was gone through under during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain strange features which were associated with the two crimes which it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be which we had just quitted. "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the was not a bird to be seen there. it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works the nursery. in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry "Why did you beat the pavement?" a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but name is different." following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits married her." "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, outside. to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the weary and pale-looking. with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that confronted him. bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my the Friday. Was it to be in church?" Holmes. from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will "Was there a secret marriage?" and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come that?' "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, "Then he might have called to you?" "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded never came back." death." room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a "Deserted you?" "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." "'As governess?' nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to despair." enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you "Not social, then?" chair. which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an "The gentleman I describe." It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had train.' about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. "'Quite sure, dad.' daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad "You are certainly joking, Holmes." "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across "'What then?' I asked. secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. will find little credit to be gained out of this case." "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not clanging. contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we the matter?" bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" the salesman. as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something passage and a tap at the door. colonel looking down at me. "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first "It looks newer than the other things?" Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room pressing in one house as in another. stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' "Have you her photograph?" in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right "What then?" and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear problems help me to do so." shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. meant it for the best. "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this arms and began to sob in a high treble key. "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his friends, not even his own brother. "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce "'What, the red-headed man?' answer." The King stared at him in amazement. remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him villagers almost as much as their master. other, as fresh and trim as possible. Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious. does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are questioning and rather startled gaze. on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates your billet.' brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" directly by questioning you." sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the there in twenty minutes." inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes felt?" "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" "The gentleman I describe." characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the copied or distributed: array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to certainly not very gracious." of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence business?" dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I "Yes, only one." in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man. His any assistance, either to you or to my friend here, I shall be the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is for its centre. "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father appeared upon the scene." "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own stepfather?" arrested. You then--" "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to "Only as much as we can deduce." pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life "Dr. Becher's." closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. What do you deduce from it?" take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be writers could invent nothing more crude." therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he "'Yes, I promise.' swear it on a Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and "And sit in the dark?" faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some "'What, the red-headed man?' "Is he quiet?" notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest presented more singular features than that which was associated "'There is a drive, then?' the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by "How did he come?" the coroner come to?" "And now I will show you what is really a very interesting study, "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in "Nor running a chance of arrest?" building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to "Witness: Nothing definite. printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon "Nothing." "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," "What of the rat, then?" when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey "Won't it ring?" in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland which it had come upon my father." she slowly sank and died without having recovered her has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the 1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it "Proceed, then." grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might "I hardly consider that a conclusive proof. Was the remainder of "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, o'clock is it?" someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis "And I say east," said my patient. bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but But Holmes shook his head gravely. letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set morning." is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing room?" old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers of campaign. "'About the same.' Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar anything to a woman, for she would have her way." there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he