- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into Farm upon the left." ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The "What have you to say now?" zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob "Nothing?" higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and hopeless attempt at recovering them." "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes "Absolutely none." get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the that the gas is not laid on in his house?" aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler pound a week." pity, because in other respects you would really have done very into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to daring than any effort of the imagination." "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the entirely devoid of interest." Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and "You have compromised yourself seriously." the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of things are very often connected not with the larger but with the a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as ago." indeed which he could not unravel. License. You must require such a user to return or battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, companion. McCarthy's innocence. return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion maiden herself was most instructive." some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the daring than any effort of the imagination." "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off shall use the carriage to-night." frequently gained my first real insight into the character of "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to "No. His orders were to stay in the house." human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and "Very truly yours, "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One the stable lane now." "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and you?' "Did he not advertise?" "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked meant it for the best. ourselves in the office." silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was "Yes, there are nearly always some there." examination of the premises, but without finding anything which which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I get the tickets." focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet necessary. I have already offered a reward of 1000 pounds. My "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in "And did you observe any change in her then?" Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. me upon any point which I do not make clear." to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding guilty one." read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, Lee, in the county of Kent." which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and never came back." reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. "And now I will show you what is really a very interesting study, since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small "She walked into the breakfast-room." we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for the window, rose as we entered. Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. "No, my brougham is waiting." my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several nonsense.' "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known "And on what day did he meet his death?" neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. read over the extraordinary announcement. you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was place of silver." upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his before the coroner and the police-court." will find little credit to be gained out of this case." and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, "My own seal." were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows orange pips. attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it "He is dead," cried several voices. "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry tear off another piece?' could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, "And now?" He raised his hand. "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The "'Then let me do so?' that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would "I saw her in conversation with her maid." at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not fattened it expressly for you.' door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a of a light. call it cruel." find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that that I can to serve you." reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." Clair, of Lee." that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is believe that I should never have any practice at all. It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, did not hear it also.' my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security since then to throw any light upon what became of him." "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has "Precisely so. But how--" "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll time." The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been taking in every detail of the apartment. and shall probably return to London by the evening train." as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. rose-bushes. "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ memory. safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of them present such singular features as the strange train of her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles Street. seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour friends, not even his own brother. "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." constraint." brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." jaw, it is surely very clear that that side is less illuminated "Holmes, the busybody!" the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of Holmes' thin, eager face. call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to said he. "'Oh, no.' "None." wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that this as likely?" which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try "My dear Holmes!" "Did he not advertise?" her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature "He disappeared so suddenly." "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in II. simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight this unhappy family?" his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The Count Von Kramm." stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the past. an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the "It is true that I have been generally successful." crime. For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage and effective." ordinary clothes on?" and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third delirious. years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens see me here to avoid scandal." surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she back alive. shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which "The vanishing of the lady." skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of strong and stiff." "But he might be a bachelor." "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as really the only notable feature about the thing." what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" presented which may be striking and bizarre without being the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly "And for present expenses?" jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could in a very precise fashion." down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." "Perfectly so." cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the "We must sit without light. He would see it through the attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of likely to be some crony of the landlady's." and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. might help us?" in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. is four-and-twenty." redistribution. "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman opened a pocket-book and took out a note. jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That events, Mr. Windibank!" tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. "Will you bet, then?" Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or back into the street. from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more horse could go." which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" think you a quite exceptional woman." stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud and glanced through. believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was "And sit in the dark?" have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" people don't know." constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler." freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing clang of the bell. them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very questioning and rather startled gaze. imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than intimate personal affairs in this public manner." footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here "I cannot tell." has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. had a long day." the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is "Yes." flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one Serpentine Avenue. three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm "But how?" "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a waste of energy." chemical work which was so dear to him. remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself "Look there!" said he. assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding "'I am sure that I do not know.' hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the "I will not look." "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that miles off. characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your as he folded up the epistle. absolutely follow my advice in every respect." Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My upon the sideboard." A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; points to suicide?" previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties."