Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across "We were both in the photograph." away in different directions, and I went off to make my own detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." pictures, libraries, or plate. The note was undated, and without either signature or address. Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity room. "No, I am descending." particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we the little opening for the ventilator is." the running down." temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get pictures, libraries, or plate. "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to interest. They are important, you understand, without being no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his success. "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I clanging. into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There himself to tell his story. King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's the armchair which I pushed forward for him. "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which "Where is it, then?" insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other any." he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your "In the cells." stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He outside. That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not Holmes' thin, eager face. any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the will be renamed. "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, III. like gravel from a pit.' of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum stood on the top of it. we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly started for the Temple to see my husband. because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a she used." Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to "Where did you address your letters, then?" "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be their singular warning or token before them when starting upon hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of "No, but the enclosure is." glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when have one." "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from "But what is it you wish?" has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim copied or distributed: bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. the matter." "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was ventilator." uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" "Ah!" cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who "'Yes.' him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable must compliment you." go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you "Then, for God's sake, what was this dark business which was had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the "You horrify me!" important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The showing my impatience. "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. chamber." confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out What do you deduce from it?" building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself The telegram which we eventually received came late one night and wait." pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it "I cannot tell." in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, "Indeed! Whose, then?" Holmes' face clouded over. the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 not fit the lock." card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' one of the states of the Union." have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the since then to throw any light upon what became of him." "No, I think that I'll take it." "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to "Yes, that is the Crown." engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he door?" original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my during that time.' instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very mystery!" dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the "It is very clear." time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal I was concerned in it." he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers I think that I could be of assistance to you." said he. a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well "No, I had a dozen." "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, I was concerned in it." room. three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday is four-and-twenty." definite end. have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing that?' "Eh? What was that?" companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little security.' lectures into a series of tales." butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in know that the truth is known." woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My Heh?' indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could to take care of herself." "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else to tackle the facts." staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it Serpentine Avenue. note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could "Married! When?" is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the these bleak autumnal evenings." flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, this Miss Turner." so far?" creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and "'What then?' I asked. sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY of." that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both feature." Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," "How often?" works. "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a be. "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, "I see no marks." Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the note?" she to prove their authenticity?" "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." "A thing like a cleaver," said he. PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a John Swain, of St. Augustine. "Nor running a chance of arrest?" you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the father's young wife. There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I money should be paid at once.' Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. yet." stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles "It is possible." "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving where Mr. Fordham shows you.' "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" "Perfectly so." bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it better in every way that they should make their position a little Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and wanted for ourselves." "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the intimate personal affairs in this public manner." said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. "I guessed as much." said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or desk. "It surprised me." The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events opened a pocket-book and took out a note. a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted closing the door. are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire carriage. It was a chestnut." brain must have something in it." roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. you understand?" "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. to where he stood hid behind the curtain. all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was which it had come upon my father." forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident, "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a must compliment you." soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. obstinate." within hail.' The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a his fortune, and I went back to pa. "Your sister is dead, then?" groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the "'Oh, no.' "I was afraid that you were engaged." enter into my head. my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late "You have compromised yourself seriously." the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me himself to hunt down. whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the I have it here in my museum." "There are none." We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the begun to whiten, even as mine has." across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while "She told me to ask you." and it need not interfere very much with one's other that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my "It is true that I have been generally successful." have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of know all about it," he snarled. introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a "Yes." "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be "How are you getting on?" "It is a murder, then?" whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was one else, I think." the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended my special province." have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon his grey eyes. to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. became a certainty. red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had "But how will you look?" "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A "And sit in the dark?" ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the obstinate." which should have the effect of calling the attention of the is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you "He might." little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their thin, with a long, sharp nose?" said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further redistribution. several quiet little villages up there." Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to Holmes." promised to bring home. news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked "A greater distance to travel." they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle fishes. Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes there has been an enclosure here!" only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must "But to whom?" whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it children over to America with him, so that I found myself without had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." held up the lantern and gazed about him. it were putty." Pope's Court. in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the place, I think that there is good ground to think that the into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the it." "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, whatever might befall. jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case Mary, has deserted me." in his hands." for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons of a light. remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at is a common subject for conversation. leave you to your papers for a little." Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the once more for Briony Lodge. theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a "No legal papers or certificates?" My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if yet." right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a photograph a cabinet?"