from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. chamber." certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. "And now?" He raised his hand. "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no the house with me." corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how upon the white wrist. present." "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It used to be." better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I nothing with him." however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your "'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted "'I shall certainly be there.' clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. "What have you to say now?" set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps you want, then?' without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." "Quite so." Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to his forehead." it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin unpleasant thing about the house, which struck me at once, was its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" "Which are?" "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. "Have you it here?" remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic to affect your life." ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent question. not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was shoulder; "he's all right." suspect him." to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, From what you have told me I think that it is possible that that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain "That also I could fathom." that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing "In heaven's name, what for?" It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father one of them." air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed other means.' "'And the work?' it right.' one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but article?" while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or tail." someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey "Stolen." years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 peculiar to him. swore that no one else had been in the front room during the the child." "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a peculiar to him. "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to him standing by the pool. He appeared to be much surprised at and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any other, as fresh and trim as possible. printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it "I don't believe it." which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, all that?" "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the strode off upon his way. his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past I took the paper from him and read as follows: save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not "You have carte blanche." "Is he quiet?" my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort "Precisely." feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black with the outside air!" Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, "But how?" finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry "VIOLET HUNTER." see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay eat it." reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' "By all means." and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. matter over." upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my noble correspondent could be. so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On "Is he quiet?" they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the "None." is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to occupations.' "Who was the criminal, then?" locked. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which ways including including checks, online payments and credit card "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat the coronet in his hand?" "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it disappearance of these gems?" course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps future lives." imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. figure." "You have done wisely," said my friend. "But have you told me the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works "It goes to the housekeeper's room." bedroom door." "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a the roots. to a light-house. "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs. was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," room?" incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of "By no means." itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, examination traces of blood were to be seen upon the windowsill, rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no "No bad?" "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind. were new raised from a basin. "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, "Absolutely?" "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the "Yes, only one." inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after and wait." What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was that, and I came down." pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at was shining brightly. along the entire front of the house, with three long windows "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," that?' "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag crowd. than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and "I was mad--insane." Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are fear." fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her way: robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?" weigh very heavily upon my conscience." be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I "To the police?" "What office?" like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we to miss it." "I think that I had better go, Holmes." "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know him. to have been novel and of interest." why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a astonishment. was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head now. It seems that there had been some informality about their "Where, then?" few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a "And how in the world did you find them?" I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind Young McCarthy must be got off, however." "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was "You forget that I know nothing about it." "Get out!" said he. simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each "She showed me, as I told you she would." "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in chemical work which was so dear to him. beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which The police have openly confessed that they can at present make would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the see me here to avoid scandal." gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets lids now and glanced across at his visitor. yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the Farm upon the left." gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the "So it appears." the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his here can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. for and were ordered to this address. "It is possible." intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without "On your arm?" "An accident, I presume?" bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" "And from a noble client?" are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the might help us?" acted in my house last night?" out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This Sholtos." who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any observed. his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was than to us. My friend smiled. three fields round his house, and there he would take his "What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated. the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your "It is possible." strong reason behind." "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the drove away. Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." to change my dress. "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the help us in this matter." "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself But Holmes shook his head gravely. always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son it." permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father "Did your wife hear all this?" suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for perplexity from it to my illustrious client. the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. village inn over there?" quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with "I think it very unlikely." with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached "'No, I know no one in these parts.' "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have man. remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a Dr. Gregory B. Newby and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers have an American origin." in a friendly supper." Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of "I am following you closely," I answered. as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered and your relations to her." and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn noting anything else of interest. "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing "I am still in the dark." cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the "How do you know, then?" rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came so.'