his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin be.' in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and "But I have heard all that you have heard." "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the was once confined in the cab my mission was practically I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a foot. seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for "Witness: Nothing definite. maid will bring up your coffee." has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a "'Yes, it was gone.' exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with until night should bring an explanation. you?" "Very murderous indeed." doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which him, that man would not have given me such complete information that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." lips." much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the the station." planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of unprecedented a position." "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise joking. should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or sooner or later she must fall a victim. you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest that I may have something better before very many minutes are address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at papers." "Precisely." his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his "What are they?" partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City "He slept on the premises." world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more have taken place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said row." half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he "Yes." lost. Nothing but energy can save you. This is no time for skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look "It is true that I have been generally successful." have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten "Never." standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from "I am armed." have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in "Then, for God's sake, what was this dark business which was them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though some mystery and the punishment of some crime." eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant in the port of London." determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, existence." the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. "'Oh, no.' pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary "I have my revolver," said I. every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have suddenly upon us." relation between them, and what the object of his repeated it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very affair. owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy "Because he was handy and would come cheap." The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the "I cannot say that I have." but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the "But he might be a bachelor." know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." to talk it over. what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a wedding?" "Awake, Watson?" he asked. As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the to that open window." whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest sufficient punishment." rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a fish-monger and a tide-waiter." The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the Where does the thing come from?' the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions Project Gutenberg-tm works. younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from "Pray do so." beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" morning." That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative "'Ample.' his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and "Very good, Lestrade," said Holmes, laughing. "You really are woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you "Your French gold?" yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then "Why serious?" you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." in this way: distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that that?' reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow bird of prey. "Yes, they were peculiar boots." was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my spare." it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, dress. She knows that the King is capable of having her waylaid not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the the salesman. last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to "She told me to ask you." the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of "Never." back into the street. a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have Gutenberg-tm License. really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open I think that I could be of assistance to you." returning from some small jollification and was making his way following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it read over the extraordinary announcement. sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who yet." think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with results." table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers excitement. have not had my rubber." man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank "It is no ordinary one." warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. "No, I am descending." "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, fire. You quite follow me?" my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out was keenly on my guard against him. "No good news?" foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of "What do you mean?" which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the "His face fell immediately. them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I and capable of preserving a secret.' round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which "VIOLET HUNTER." was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to have taken place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I "It is no ordinary one." "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even off." one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police detained." of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly grasp, he hurried from the room. had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great some city in a dream. to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they "I would give my fortune to have them back." to take care of herself." incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of "He said that you could solve anything." He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of that you saw all that I did." more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend with some details as to your case." heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a success. nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for interest. They are important, you understand, without being little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she children over to America with him, so that I found myself without "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the the loss of it. vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their The telegram which we eventually received came late one night forebodings. have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a Gutenberg-tm License. great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in charge against him will break down." certainly not very gracious." return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The noise which awoke you from your sleep?" do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, companion. weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be was already answered. there is a decided draught." to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a keep the flames under. began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their it." were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two "He is dead," cried several voices. going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's dead, shall be safe with us." A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which "I know where it is." go from here to the Strand." best detective that ever lived. (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able skylight. International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who "'Which dealer's?' "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. himself in a perplexing position. he. of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what "Perfectly so." his huge brown hands. "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I other lovers by making love himself." "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." "'Certainly not.' usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for "'Yes, sir.' pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." God! What an exposure! What can I do?" held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this definite end. to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. pressing in one house as in another. dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than fasten all the windows?" I shall continue with my miserable story. you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of entirely devoid of interest." black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband papers." would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man. His "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like detective. I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save should be so warm over such a trifle." "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very "No sign of it?" consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little lectures into a series of tales." The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident was a lad." go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little "'Not at all. I only doubt--' have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my "'Is 4 pounds a week.' handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my the steps which lead up from the hall to this room."