transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a with frightened eyes at his accuser. very morning of my second wedding." hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. roused himself from his reverie. of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the fashion which was peculiar to him. breakfast?" most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her and no precautions can guard against." Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the "Frequently." "Yes, that is the Crown." this man was intellectual?" "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as wedding?" something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether "It is very clear." Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I "My own seal." for and were ordered to this address. Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, not use it unless it is absolutely needed." "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after I approached. Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the "She will not sell." moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me be. "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the that I may have something better before very many minutes are sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he followed. while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the "Imitated." upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than "No." But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the I held the little printed slip to the light. preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." and that he would see to anything that turned up. seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, "By no means." "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. suddenly upon us." extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had "I promise," said Holmes. "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a closing the door. Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words goes." through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some your Highness to the police-station?" "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the and shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint and something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning "It is a murder, then?" dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to have got?" quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A arrangements." should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the "Yes?" "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. have been better. It is all right." Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, chair. erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the gone. the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little to arrive at through this?" transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but "You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very "Did he not advertise?" absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately "The landlord of the Alpha." "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a "Absolutely none." one's self under obligations.' was not a bird to be seen there. indiscretion." full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said I. 1.F. qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of rooms." particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning "And what did you see?" more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran following enigmatical notices: There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to Literary Archive Foundation He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even "'Yes, sir.' "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who "Will you go?" himself. Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he "And how did you verify them?" the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" "But his left-handedness." if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to been lifted and conveyed somewhere." obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do "The King of Scandinavia." so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly of your young ladies.' concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, "But I have heard all that you have heard." "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon "Of Friday, June 19th." something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in to tackle the facts." "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If "'Is purely nominal.' money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem to his chemical studies. he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, remarked. "But how will you look?" a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me hopeless attempt at recovering them." and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most "It is possible." if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may "What office?" to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I "Then what has happened to him?" have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I The note was undated, and without either signature or address. tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, my little problems." and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for to-night's adventure." may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, "'What then?' I asked. "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a our word." "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong "I have come for advice." friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, "No, I am descending." Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy prepare for the new role I have to play." 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your hard-headed British jury." behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I "You don't mind breaking the law?" Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is green of the new foliage. I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying "No." Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, what is your own theory as to what took place?" which it had come upon my father." rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." Serpentine Avenue. my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is in my life." minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so ourselves in the office." pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The make me his representative both with the servants and with the the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his was a loud and authoritative tap. shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from "No." me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. you?' table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. Project Gutenberg-tm works. is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you "Nothing." case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be "Frequently." side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me furiously. "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no "I have come for advice." Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By "That also I could fathom." to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are returning from some small jollification and was making his way "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an swear it on a Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear "'And what salary do you ask?' "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir hardly wander." Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his "Well, it is a possible supposition." "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into face and glided from the room. "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious. My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the "Your presence might be invaluable." wall." Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any was the fact that his father should, according to his account, "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we fuss that is made over them." I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's bears upon the case?" who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too "I am to be neutral?" "I have seen the police." He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up "But she will refuse." "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of envelope. find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, when you have done it." room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little get the tickets." minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as not come at once?" uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." impression behind it as though a window had gently closed However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of "What do you make of that, Watson?" "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" that, and I came down." make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried his forehead." Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. the Red-headed League." bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" presented more singular features than that which was associated to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even "And why in hopes?" "In the cells." blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the death." "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What the side-table." tail." insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be have been better. It is all right." characteristics, but those are the more obvious." "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been Holmes' face clouded over. about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your ventilator." "You think so, too?" serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said "'Yes, it was gone.' "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to anything to do with the matter?" "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from ceremony." it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a lamp. jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at that before taking the final step I should like to submit the house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks problems help me to do so." elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in his wife has ceased to love him." should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness "Then, as to money?" fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than congratulate you again." "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." conversation I have gathered that they have been married about was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my "But I am all in the dark." strength." note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic hurried away. blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend "I cannot imagine." in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is