questionable one." I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' "This photograph!" "'Yes.' and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We "Breckinridge is his name." Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody "Pray tell us what has happened to you." "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the chemical work which was so dear to him. he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do "Where, then, is my wife?" plantation.' "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." the very morning of the wedding." been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, subject to the trademark license, especially commercial "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a It may be so in this case, also." understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine "'There is a drive, then?' upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my details should find their way into the papers. Inspector to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the "I would give my fortune to have them back." and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. "None. Neville wrote those words." tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the unpleasant thing about the house, which struck me at once, was to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me how narrow had been my escape. with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many not come at once?" out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' "I would pay ten." receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send country, and eventually married, without anyone having a the coronet at all injured?" say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little "Witness: It was. "How many? I don't know." assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand "It surprised me." pound a week." "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left words came to my lips. of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time His name is Francis Prosper." 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and you." Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his as noiselessly as she had come. Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any 'please.'" grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated careless servant girl?" her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I husband's writing, madam." predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My meant." nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert "VIOLET HUNTER." have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, noting anything else of interest. "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and do you make of it all?" memory. on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned it with his own hands." Countess of Morcar's?" smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train been able to understand it, in a very few words. habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." meant." half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off case before our client came into the room." "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows she slowly sank and died without having recovered her the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' "What then?" rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until "Oh, fresh and glossy." "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make page at http://pglaf.org to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a for the market.' lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. "The rest you will leave in our hands." stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to residence of the great financier. the Red-headed League." he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the Edgeware Road. and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for "Ha! you find it so?" successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a burst out into a roar of laughter. connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and front of me. and prosperity to your house. Good-night." We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried arrangements." day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing drawing your inferences." all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't "I would give my fortune to have them back." Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already the loss of it. "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at which it had come upon my father." he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the go back?" weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a instituted." upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening I. tell me that you intended to go into harness." across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. "Of Friday, June 19th." and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the the so-precious time, but come!' were unconscious?" second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon page at http://pglaf.org with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; "I will, Miss Turner." was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending chemical work which was so dear to him. "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the him nearly every evening." with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and the very morning of the wedding." "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said presented more singular features than that which was associated It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a secret." it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern humiliation." "'Entirely.' Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger matter." to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." "I assure you that I am in your hands." other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I "That also I could fathom." while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my "I was certainly surprised to find you there." "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to been lifted and conveyed somewhere." 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose bears upon the case?" shadow pass over his face as I spoke. to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, intimate personal affairs in this public manner." to tell." charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of rat could hardly pass through." clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his "'Where could I find him?' with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able subject to the trademark license, especially commercial Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear "A confidential servant?" which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a was keenly on my guard against him. right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that "I am still in the dark." "Very good, Lestrade," said Holmes, laughing. "You really are had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any But Holmes shook his head gravely. said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into some city in a dream. explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had instituted." mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a "I am following you closely," I answered. I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I your co-operation." layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a a little more before I quite committed myself. Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his like that before?" and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of "And who is her maid?" think you a quite exceptional woman." reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, indiscretion." landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get tear off another piece?' "Then I do not see the point." France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to events, Mr. Windibank!" "And why in hopes?" back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most handed it to him. quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was "I was certainly surprised to find you there." course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a are windows in it, of course?" both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and a very grave face. platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed events, Mr. Windibank!" however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful never will be, entirely cleared up. empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the happened." "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more approach us with offers to donate. Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, "It was." dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could "Yes, the wine-cellar." out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's official police." threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. tell them apart.' away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely appeal." "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the "I cannot imagine." deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle "Yes." even so self-evident a thing as that." saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." get her out of the way." "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" present." the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off made him keep the appointment." gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular is," said he presently: window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying "It is no ordinary one." continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." strange features which were associated with the two crimes which the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a felt?" "To ruin me." and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is together. high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good business in the City. She little knew what. good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For "And what did you learn from him?" of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel "Could he throw no light?" "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." definite end. "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do presume?" of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. I nodded to show that I had heard. "What have you done?" asked Holmes. remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, ran thus: nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable you want, then?' face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now "Not I." station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving "At the wedding breakfast." learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees,