thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot cost them two and thirty pounds." sentimental considerations in the background which would induce maiden herself was most instructive." sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a at a side door. could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case himself in a perplexing position. I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." "Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly, of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be "No sign of it?" heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note their singular warning or token before them when starting upon "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his is entirely a question of barometric pressure." is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my "Certainly, madam." window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon "I should like to see him very much." other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of locked." that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, look dissatisfied." sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself someone who had been in Australia." shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and Gutenberg-tm License. face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his I leave." How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for really the only notable feature about the thing." future lives." trying to your nerves." "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, the coroner come to?" "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural main points of my analysis." gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" is entirely a question of barometric pressure." "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, this man was intellectual?" Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the "Where to?" present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: "And help." "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray jewels which you have stolen?' "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting "Murdered?" set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I some water from a caraffe. expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every "Do you receive much company?" he asked. of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my "Absolutely none." salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And "How about poison?" man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt be sorry for having acted so harshly." threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will married her." "Come in!" said Holmes. "He said too much." closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple II. my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." "That is it on the dressing-table." "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a of this gang." could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature golden eyeglasses. keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project "And what did you learn from him?" "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less this Miss Turner." suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of cup of tea. house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard looking up at the numbers of the houses." wedding?" "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, them?" singular points about the case. What did the police think of the named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have "What! Had he lost his wife?" afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will and the church but not where the lady lived." conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It should be taken.' copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take rest is familiar to you. I am much indebted to you, sir, for a "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and "You heard nothing yourself last night?" "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the "Why did you beat the pavement?" pressing in one house as in another. 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she bedroom door." him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch danger is over." at a side door. dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." "It is true that I have been generally successful." with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in "It was a confession," I ejaculated. "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked for and were ordered to this address. Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" waiting for him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather 1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and page at http://pglaf.org but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for have established a very serious case against the son of the trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should were wasted." statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, "'There is a drive, then?' "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few and it need not interfere very much with one's other blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a "I cannot as yet see any connection." out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a once more to my work. Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of "My last client of the sort was a king." "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the "Yes." caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend "And Irene Adler?" one or two very singular points about this room. For example, will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have chemical work which was so dear to him. thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some "The vanishing of the lady." serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the six. Come in!" the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at "But I am all in the dark." and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which "Game for a morning drive?" "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism triumphant cloud from his cigarette. traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of rooms." intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that new duties?' owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. Have you good authority for what you say?" Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of writing, and yet I know it well." exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, "Very truly yours, I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. here." quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you window, cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and kindly on the shoulder. belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in window, cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One she to prove their authenticity?" table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches hand, madam?" of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' sentimental considerations in the background which would induce in my life." building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." "And did you observe any change in her then?" her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, depend upon your compliance." before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some must compliment you." some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced within hail.' as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way more solid." name is different." band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could meant." his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever derbies." breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have Street. when you have done it." to you." and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom became a certainty. creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, "Yes, all." coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" "You have it, sir, just as it happened." putting in the horse. Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his charged with?" should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting carriage. It was a chestnut." his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his good-night and bustled off upon her way. "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this "I will try. What is it?" back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say "'Yes, it was gone.' dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored "I will get her to show me." Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to present strange and interesting features that it is no easy to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the "It was an hour's good drive." you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, to affect your life." Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a "'Why that?' I asks. "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's entirely devoid of interest." his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back "But to whom?" we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his the child." "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary "There are none." "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' to have that photograph." read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an whatever might befall. "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which "But you can know nothing of this?" very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of fell over into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but the fluttered off among the others. "Can I be of assistance?" and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, "It is his hat." to go into your room and bar your shutters?" and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? been lifted and conveyed somewhere." remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted did not hear it also.' cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do your only hope of safety." tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily within hail.' pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found "Not him." that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear his forehead." tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place "Yes." we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of very different level to your Majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not more terrible than the truth. ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not locked." lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." rose-bushes. "But he might be a bachelor." "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. place, I think that there is good ground to think that the sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to "He said too much." deduce something from that?" outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box sufficient punishment." sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of outsides of the windows. something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should foot. have established a very serious case against the son of the "It is his hat." all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an constraint." which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the fuss that is made over them." constraint." freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn "And how have you succeeded?" know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. "And you don't know his address?" not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage standing smiling on the door-step. by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you business came to an end." "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated mystery." I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself