"Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through DAMAGE. as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off nothing of it?" "I see many objections to any such theory." my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent "Nor running a chance of arrest?" "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for never to learn it at all." eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. it were putty." the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce "I was certainly surprised to find you there." Holmes rather sternly. has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with Serpentine Avenue. "'Why that?' I asks. very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming night.' said he. spark where all is dark to me." that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." "Has he come with you to-night?" swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a "Then he might have called to you?" home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, "And when will you call?" aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which that threaten you." I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave "By no means." "Holmes, the busybody!" police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I "Do you go out much in society?" "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only think you a quite exceptional woman." daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a characteristics, but those are the more obvious." direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon of the efforts of the United States government and of the better more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The shall not find me ungrateful." gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by if she died from some sudden fright." very morning of my second wedding." for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for "He disappeared so suddenly." very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of true." "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which very old mansion. my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by "Have you her photograph?" "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home thin legs towards the fire. world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From "You horrify me." broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his grasp, he hurried from the room. the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." "Yes." "Look there!" said he. reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, morning." delighted to hear it," he said. everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of "Witness: Nothing definite. have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a giving me time to thank him. a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I "Yes, they were peculiar boots." see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his "10th. John Swain cleared. "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very "Ah!" the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might "'I have heard so.' may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the written. door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, pound a week." "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from now. It seems that there had been some informality about their XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, purpose equally well?" "How did that help you?" "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." "I came to find a friend." unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up "And now?" He raised his hand. America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in "And your father? Did you tell him?" "In which, sir?" "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor his cane at the bell-pull. yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, could not have written that. It is the German who is so I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this "It must be recovered." was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as guilty parties." even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of was a perfect sample of the class. a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever "It may not come to that," said Holmes. "And who is her maid?" we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main Lee, in the county of Kent." friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and place no limit on the sum I may draw." Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been nights." fait accompli?" "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection that he will be back before evening." with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need without success. At last the little money which I had saved began King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see hardly wander." pierced for earrings?" strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his were wasted." "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" outside." to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and place, I think that there is good ground to think that the goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working appeared upon the scene." enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. rose-bushes. posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from "Yes, all." "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism indeed happy." "When did it break out?" "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." writing, and yet I know it well." and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the "I cannot tell." say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he an introduction to him?" comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted peculiar to him. "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had better in every way that they should make their position a little with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. said he. significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. papers diligently of late, have you not?" skylight. had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the security.' ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly as yours." was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have "Certainly." "Of what day?" and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as drawing your inferences." left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we window when the police appeared." parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while ready to-morrow?' charge against him will break down." used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of "Quite so." answered with a sidelong glance. "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if you." hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This "Who by?" of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is what I may call a really hard day's work." deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to "I am sure." "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all "You know me, then?" the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and Chief Executive and Director "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own against a man in the prime of life?" XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a "Yes, all." o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 are, I think, all that we need." a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really "I shall most certainly do so." He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong said he. figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey retorted upon me, and I on you." repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should "No more words. Get out!" loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed "You have it, sir, just as it happened." lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the and prosperity to your house. Good-night." "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she could gather together that I was able to avert another public least a most suspicious remark." was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's "Very good, Lestrade," said Holmes, laughing. "You really are "And the cigar-holder?" line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. "But she could not love him." could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because individual and becomes the badge of a society." The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. crackling voice. papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have here can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time joking. understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, "Nothing?" chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. memory. my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must sparkled upon his finger. perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand could gather together that I was able to avert another public stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, less than 26s. 4d. fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this observe it at the time. Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, "But the mystery?" "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger "I think that I had better go, Holmes." prepare for the new role I have to play." important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end "Stoke Moran?" said he. way in." wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." "You are all wrong." "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner be best to do. Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was not come at once?" in your London, you will know that the office of the company is I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" side. the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his do.' sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. you." you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers "I was sure that I might rely on you." fear." tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there "Yes, the wine-cellar." unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now."