"I have hopes." was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded infinite languor in his face. reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, "Of Friday, June 19th." do.' you in your example." steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet said he. "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" upon the white wrist. scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would "My last client of the sort was a king." more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the "My last client of the sort was a king." happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a appeal." "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he "Quite so." "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, "'I have heard so.' Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. call it cruel." lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and not fit the lock." roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay these very carefully from seven or eight different points, Holmes Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his done what I asked you, Jones?" "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found upon a handsome competence. with you alone." round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For and I shall be with you presently." registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can as he remarks, very much against the son." he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did in this note: is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton papers must be those that are destroyed.' 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. straightened it out again. matters immensely." with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she my room." "ARAT," I read. I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards unprecedented a position." "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off "What steps will you take?" I asked. until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. new acquaintance to Baker Street. India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely "But you would not advise me to refuse?" step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small "ARAT," I read. "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were be best to do. exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I roused himself from his reverie. anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened me. handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my chamber." these very carefully from seven or eight different points, Holmes occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, "I cannot say that I have." "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of "That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter. was my first impression. At the second glance, however, I cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man, "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, a monotonous occupation." hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, towards the blaze. station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' "What, then, did Peterson do?" was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, putting in the horse. only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: "The Cedars?" He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it throat." the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was dates and names. the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very visitors." "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham his wife has ceased to love him." and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country "'What then?' I asked. "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." "Yes, all." by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered "Yes, from Horsham." back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which "Why, what do you mean?" to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after "What, then, did Peterson do?" "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my he died? the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and characteristics, but those are the more obvious." man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. "More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. "Bought." at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the "They are typewritten," I remarked. Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I there." woven round him. "'In my own bureau.' main points of my analysis." Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that "An enemy?" "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to bare slabs of marble. "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. o'clock is it?" our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his "None." on in his house." and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would impression behind it as though a window had gently closed now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call was feeling which was the fattest.' years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the these very carefully from seven or eight different points, Holmes push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the think that any burglar could have done. look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On business at Coburg Square is serious." grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and "Yes, they were peculiar boots." informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare swear it on a Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's I approached. it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his "What shall I do?" great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the ventilator." hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the husband's writing, madam." "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part forecastle of an emigrant ship. used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the "Yes, I have one waiting." the King without delay." "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when opened a pocket-book and took out a note. corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy the stable lane now." "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, quick march!" "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold envelope. exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" "9th. McCauley cleared. them, and came down just as you departed. hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William "I am still in the dark." of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at The telegram which we eventually received came late one night shag which I had seen upon the previous night. police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same "Because he was handy and would come cheap." could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" information in his hands the value of which he did not himself slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular fait accompli?" dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where husband's writing, madam." animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a sound at heart." chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend a little more before I quite committed myself. of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." "Stolen, then." "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and "'Very good.' go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident, 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She heavily into it. number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at train.' him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, joking. "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some Have you good authority for what you say?" examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered direction." to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study which our visitor detailed to us. suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind derbies." stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building geese which you supplied to the Alpha." lumber-room." volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the "You'll never persuade me to believe that." tightly behind him. "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple chill to my heart. the coronet in his hands?" "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my way: go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with "'Which dealer's?' "Texas, I think." them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" outlined against the flood of light, one hand upon the door, one "Not in the least." actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the success. "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can and all of them with the keenest interest. Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his said he. "Of what day?" away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such clanging. a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of not, dad?" she asked. surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have "You are certainly joking, Holmes." "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards which we had just quitted. indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my "There are none." "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources enough to aid us in our search." "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." everything which you would wish to know." looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was "A confidential servant?" "No." "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. "No, finished." dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The opened a pocket-book and took out a note. safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror everything which you would wish to know." window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in "But you have hopes?" which are rolled in Rotterdam." "I think it very unlikely." It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate "What have you to say now?" and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I memory. see me here to avoid scandal." Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the "In answer to an advertisement." "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" know all about it," he snarled. part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these "I am still in the dark." meanly of me." remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men "I should wish to." inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy recover the gem." "Seven!" I answered. belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the made him keep the appointment." lids now and glanced across at his visitor. respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he "Certainly." been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He "Get out!" said he. insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution answer." owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he indeed which he could not unravel. of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at fashion which was peculiar to him. "I say that I have solved it." prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for outside." prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So and the church but not where the lady lived." train from Paddington which would bring you there at about extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is