it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, bill, which interests me deeply." into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of You can understand that this register and diary may implicate "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let sake, don't!" shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from started for the Temple to see my husband. that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a "'I am sure that I do not know.' against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who "And the murderer?" as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would to affect your life." he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses "It is very clear." to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I had a long day." bled considerably." upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but "Yes." My friend smiled. "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the with you alone." animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can my special province." no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has "Whose house is it?" since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in that there was nothing in it, after all." her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She "By no means." it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely "'Certainly not. But why?' Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came quite distinctive." "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a the south-west, I see." pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire see a sister of mine apply for." His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the "And I to find an enemy." the window, rose as we entered. affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I "Well, at least," said Holmes, "you have had your revenge upon brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." was a loud and authoritative tap. said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get me." "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a even so self-evident a thing as that." Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. "I assure you that I am in your hands." weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." 809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried "Yes." gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at which we had just quitted. threw himself down with his face to the pillow. to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet this Miss Turner." confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, weigh very heavily upon my conscience." away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong really the only notable feature about the thing." arms and began to sob in a high treble key. "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and "Where, then?" was once confined in the cab my mission was practically situation." "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout and prosperity to your house. Good-night." to his chemical studies. geese which you supplied to the Alpha." "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down figure." "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, and the colonel ushered me in. wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. "Oh, yes, easily." "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. "My opinion is in no way altered." January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly "I never have." "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his retorted upon me, and I on you." knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words "What, then, did Peterson do?" swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the to where he stood hid behind the curtain. and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, October 9, 1890. dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her Lee, in the county of Kent." misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco tassel actually lying upon the pillow. "He said too much." copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless "'Ample.' all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a "'Stolen!' he cried. down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in "She told me to ask you." "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced "Did he not advertise?" could gather together that I was able to avert another public possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and stood on the top of it. "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn business for myself and took professional chambers in Victoria the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece "To an English lawyer named Norton." of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" "Yes, from Horsham." extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to nonsense.' little adventures." overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' to-night?" I asked. view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight is acting for the best. though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to address. Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the writer." "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is "Then I am your man." has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him "The decline of his fortunes, then?" upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in several quiet little villages up there." hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has character. broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here made him keep the appointment." "My stepfather's business papers." classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster "I will try. What is it?" Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at rest is familiar to you. I am much indebted to you, sir, for a home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn "It is to him that this trophy belongs." said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has Miss Holder?" which our visitor detailed to us. "'Yes, sir.' here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from completely overtopped every other consideration that we both Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private Clair, of Lee." "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which "Will you bet, then?" lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, him nearly every evening." individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply Sholtos." again." shag which I had seen upon the previous night. observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon him." heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that happened." mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must Chief Executive and Director man. ceremony." had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' "Game for a morning drive?" the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have "VIOLET HUNTER." large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a least a most suspicious remark." "And the cigar-holder?" became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very character. pound a week." "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. Doctor, of the paper and the date." same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly "'And the work?' absorbing." tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if giving me time to thank him. either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking Stoke Moran." Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the husband's writing, madam." shaken than I had ever seen him. "Very well, sir. And this stone?" "Do you know him?" walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of "The rest you will leave in our hands." problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass "I was mad--insane." towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to "And I." "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the "Ha! you find it so?" The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You unprofitable." of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, him nearly every evening." that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but forbidden door. knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence "By no means." public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining your troubles." 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of "And is that all?" "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him taking in every detail of the apartment. glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This the date of his supposed suicide." lamp. ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, subject to the trademark license, especially commercial fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being not come at once?" I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for and laid it on the table. "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" "Was he the only applicant?" down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and fell over into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but the "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you "Have you it here?" The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two Henry Baker is a member." down from London to inquire more deeply into it." in the hope of finding them." "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my derbies." populous neighbourhood." correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, "He is dead," cried several voices. "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent the ceiling. newspaper selections." records." serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well one or two very singular points about this room. For example, lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at morning." flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied. chamber." London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which criminal. We have already had experience of such." this truth that in these little records of our cases which you I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man, as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical such person." and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and was the fact that his father should, according to his account, and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. "'Where to?' it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted quick march!" mystery!" "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, place, I think that there is good ground to think that the mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side "I don't say that. Perhaps." so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. burst into a hearty fit of laughter. "'I shall certainly be there.' mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is "Ah!" sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny