and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. that threaten you." They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, In this way you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of an "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" see a sister of mine apply for." some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand unclasping of his long thin hands. "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. "If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man out problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a Edgeware Road. "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that purpose equally well?" shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, you." "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a "And how?" the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. to Leatherhead. the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction "It may not come to that," said Holmes. his face which made him a very different person to the round, possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should matter." stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' questionable one." done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for "Thank you. Pray proceed." puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that at my remark. your only hope of safety." particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this had died away into the silence from which it rose. Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over generous with you in money matters.' get her out of the way." name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" John Swain, of St. Augustine. however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously things are very often connected not with the larger but with the behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when fish-monger and a tide-waiter." departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, shoulder; "he's all right." The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, "Stolen." lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful in this way: "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have tassel actually lying upon the pillow. as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand "At half-wages, in fact." violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." "Now, then, what's the last entry?" grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" McCarthy's innocence. I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What "I was mad--insane." key turn in the lock." he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either "Did your wife hear all this?" The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all and prosperity to your house. Good-night." detective. We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted "He disappeared so suddenly." "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." "Then I am your man." week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, "Yes." Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three already referred to. begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If train from Paddington which would bring you there at about "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or any more." works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it security.' "Proceed, then." these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a his fortune, and I went back to pa. "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the in my life." such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a "'Certainly not.' our word." papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged look upon these things in a different way." "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows "Breckinridge is his name." his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." electronic works that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a enter Dr. Roylott's room." recall any case within my experience which looked at the first "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with "How often?" "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall present strange and interesting features that it is no easy prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the face and glided from the room. and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen "That is unusual in a young girl." "Precisely." "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little before, for it was considerably after midnight. "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard lumber-room." got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." "But what is it you wish?" the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the The police have openly confessed that they can at present make more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and residence of the great financier. at a side door. with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the been deceived." unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, to affect your life." it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away You want to know what became of those geese?" paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is "What then?" But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked "'Where could I find him?' "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the fact, we may call it conclusive." "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he night.' said he. official police." my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his companion. "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which stammered. "And now?" He raised his hand. "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of "What is it?" his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." you found me to-night--and running through the front room she but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was said he, "my real name is James Ryder." paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was where we are going." their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked "How did he come?" "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." "Oh, fresh and glossy." "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic "'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one "So I am. Very much so." and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who "I shall be delighted." standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was bachelor.' "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." "It is no ordinary one." when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but "Yes, sir." "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham "Was the window open?" to-night?" I asked. is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? "So it appears." "My dear Holmes!" King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." you." "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. "Which are?" my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it our word." intimate personal affairs in this public manner." your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and with you?" shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and definite end. "If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man out remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she *** START: FULL LICENSE *** other lovers by making love himself." companion quietly. there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid "I should like to see him very much." "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. posted to-day." morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is province." waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such developed." authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. second window is the one that I jumped from." unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face "I cannot tell." friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. the morning and make my own way in the world.' the iron safe, which he closed upon it. fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how very old mansion. could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better remarked. "'Oh, no.' His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have some mystery and the punishment of some crime." "That is unusual in a young girl." "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he "It was an hour's good drive." "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, "You have compromised yourself seriously." a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, "He disappeared so suddenly." Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the papers diligently of late, have you not?" had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements fattened it expressly for you.' "Yes." brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, "No." The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and "Yes, the wine-cellar." know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a "It is no ordinary one." photograph?" that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. one or two very singular points about this room. For example, "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded My friend smiled. "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more noise which awoke you from your sleep?" "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' "My Mary? Impossible!" eavesdroppers?' step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted "But how?" he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far legal crime." empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In "And now?" I asked. the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of "What will you do, then?" "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an this man was intellectual?" about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, shoulder; "he's all right." here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. lids now and glanced across at his visitor. empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a one of them." characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an would apply.' "That's no good." retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you "Yes, from Horsham." moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to "My private note-paper." He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with and laid it on the table. of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more "9th. McCauley cleared. "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that nonsense.' a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other were unconscious?" name is different." Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel "And what did you learn from him?" folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative "No, my brougham is waiting." "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the had a long day." with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the "Dirty?" old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had fasten all the windows?" get her out of the way." sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." "If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man out what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE "'Yes, I promise.' We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who late." We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was "Very good, Lestrade," said Holmes, laughing. "You really are as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of presented which may be striking and bizarre without being "I cannot tell." "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is away into the river." Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that "Who was the criminal, then?" the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained of them has the shutters up.' "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor,