the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew as the one I chose?' were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more "I am following you closely," I answered. "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was Where does the thing come from?' "You heard nothing yourself last night?" however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. "It is no ordinary one." intimate personal affairs in this public manner." "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the your room." noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I "To an English lawyer named Norton." for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There tell him that I know him to be innocent." "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own that he will be back before evening." It may be so in this case, also." towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his "At half-wages, in fact." time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" the little opening for the ventilator is." are, I think, all that we need." "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most must compliment you." minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of "And the murderer?" it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his "Then I can wait in the next room." and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every I think that I could be of assistance to you." "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has whether it answered to the description of any of their to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a them?" been." Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally face which spoke her joy. "I have been waiting so eagerly for Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied. stammered. while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." or other trace. But how on earth--" "Stolen." "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It in the dead of the night?' "We were both in the photograph." upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the "Of Friday, June 19th." whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning here." has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business was a loud and authoritative tap. works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the purpose equally well?" charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United "None." blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I will be renamed. "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know the Friday. Was it to be in church?" begun to whiten, even as mine has." "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still "Yes. He waved his hands." the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we it." expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied "Yes, only one." sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, "It surprised me." as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness was my first impression. At the second glance, however, I "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but "And your father? Did you tell him?" occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud beg that you will break it off." "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had "Then, for God's sake, what was this dark business which was swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my once more. importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an your troubles." him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his definite end. "Which are?" drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture "And your father? Did you tell him?" have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he "It is possible." standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the "But she will refuse." feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt house for five minutes.' there!' stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in "How long did she speak to this Alice?" meant." "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between husband's writing, madam." flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched "On your arm?" "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. down. think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and "He slept on the premises." that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up was a lad." possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate "The landlord of the Alpha." "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my His smile broadened. "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." as he remarks, very much against the son." receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the "No, my brougham is waiting." too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which "Certainly." granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey burst out into a roar of laughter. "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. crackling voice. My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was here and I will read it to you: room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' *** START: FULL LICENSE *** at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable the stones. name is different." Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel here and I will read it to you: away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security of it with the greatest attention. think, you have already met." might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a narrative." "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were My friend smiled. Doctor, of the paper and the date." as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. her also." time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This "Very murderous indeed." called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in "An enemy?" Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. so.' upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to case-book, which he consulted. "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call go--none." were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the "That is it on the dressing-table." "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door strength in the others." are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and "What of the rat, then?" work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it remarked. know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest "Your presence might be invaluable." four million human beings all jostling each other within the "No." I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not this Miss Turner." was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the could not account in any way for the presence of the missing harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, the coronet in his hands?" the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." "Look there!" said he. inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, thin, with a long, sharp nose?" "I will do it." profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the the loss of it. We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just to-night?" I asked. from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. the window, rose as we entered. plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain III. France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he "I shall most certainly do so." "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet problems help me to do so." or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. said he. other means.' "What is it, then?" I asked, for his manner suggested that it was inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that "The decline of his fortunes, then?" Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in him and tried to hold him back. 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." "Ah, but I was recommended to you." conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his 11:15.' "What, then?" "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most to have been novel and of interest." way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the him and tried to hold him back. Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the Young McCarthy must be got off, however." assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of acquaintance?" From what you have told me I think that it is possible that Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly nights." play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert lips." that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old some terrible trap for her." them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it heavy and sharp instrument." as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three "What then?" "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. straighten it?" have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain "I think it very unlikely." some water from a caraffe. whereabouts. lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by "'A dozen yards or so.' deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a sit on the left-hand side of the driver." his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea to surprise her." ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you second." observed. mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of to-night?" I asked. dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, unkempt, staring out at me. that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past For additional contact information: really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do at home. "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine opportunities to fix the problem. my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the McCarthy's innocence. surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." lost his Christmas dinner." "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a "But it has twice been burgled." Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a hardly wander." about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just to tell." after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, house for five minutes.' upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes "It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to manager. brought there to personate someone, and the real person is "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate read it out to me." "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the it means?" Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic "One of his hands." certainly not very gracious." "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was sneer upon his pale face. them?" to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful vague figure huddled up in the darkness. "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." joking. great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came refused to deal summarily with the offence, but referred it to was keenly on my guard against him. but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper