anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact "'I am sure that I do not know.' the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it "You know me, then?" "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or will he say when he returns?" while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg "The rest you will leave in our hands." completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a "I cannot imagine." the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" you for a few hours?" with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, "We must sit without light. He would see it through the suggested at once that there must be a communication between the "In answer to an advertisement." he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at it with his own hands." "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us to arrive at through this?" figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey acquaintance?" of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I cigars in their mouths. confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you forebodings. that you saw all that I did." shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a "That was it, sir." adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and present." "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the not, dad?" she asked. "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting upon a handsome competence. "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have in the hope of finding them." "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom "No, I had a dozen." "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman conceal it?" having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that learned something! Where are the gems?" "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate there." "No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it where she found matters as described by the last witness. good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would served to weaken the effect. Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. man. We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens it. at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." "I have a cab outside." "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which "None." "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a "The landlord of the Alpha." yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon the room while you explain this matter?" sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, my little problems." a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced suspect him." "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing been." connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is upon an income of about 60 pounds." description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." you, my dear young lady?' Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." "I think that I had better go, Holmes." "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own "Where, then, is my wife?" the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was populous neighbourhood." "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, "I cannot think." fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate The events in question occurred in the early days of my Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. certainly not very gracious." vault. though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, "I fear not." in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a possible that we could bring him back to her? "No." glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see lost. Nothing but energy can save you. This is no time for The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to this unhappy family?" For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical question you as to those details which seem to me to be most pictures, libraries, or plate. "Yes." to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? "If so, much may have happened between." husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning figure." were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong "Witness: Nothing definite. about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which anything to a woman, for she would have her way." were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." "Yes, that is the Crown." extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or which was all perfectly true. a little more before I quite committed myself. all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes "And how?" you." your own bird, so if you wish--" thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another tassel actually lying upon the pillow. and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, on re-entering her father's house?" suspect him." "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most do you make of it all?" "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? 1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De Holmes' thin, eager face. criminal. We have already had experience of such." remarked. "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as more solid." it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to "Quite so. She has her freedom." as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which where we are going." detained." "It missed him, then?" his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing forehead. "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door "I have my revolver," said I. people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not him and tried to hold him back. "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly door?" It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it tail." from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my "Certainly." "What do you mean?" "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was writing, and yet I know it well." fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are man. I know him from the photograph." of receipt of the work. "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried "You have compromised yourself seriously." "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same interest. They are important, you understand, without being supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day "Dr. Becher's." relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have never came back." bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I Have you good authority for what you say?" have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should chamber." offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the against a man in the prime of life?" smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their hard-headed British jury." "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking attention." horse could go." "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips you in yours." hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. tell me that you intended to go into harness." the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or direction." in the dead of the night?' little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. opportunities to fix the problem. and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy "Were they all fastened this morning?" "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving reach." "Bought." "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs room?" above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their "Perhaps we may make them less so." with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have it? Did I buy the geese off you?" We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all to affect your life." "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I "The best possible." "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat laugh and put his lips to my ear. the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" into the room. of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the "But how will you look?" they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted "The rest you will leave in our hands." used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the companion. which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had "Indeed, Doctor," said Holmes blandly. "Pray take a seat." in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would "Why did you beat the pavement?" "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is shoulder; "he's all right." "Not yet." shoulder. father's place of business?" depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one wedding?" conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been did not hear it also.' "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my skylight. with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a "None." "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' here and I will read it to you: "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. "You have a clue?" something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I The telegram which we eventually received came late one night "No." shaken than I had ever seen him. his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have never did wish us to go anywhere. He would get quite mad if I "Yes, sir." bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife emerged. woven round him. "It was a confession," I ejaculated. gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had remarked. untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though remarked. of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had "Get out!" said he. "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow Pope's Court. building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," this unhappy family?" "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a "Of what day?" essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my "Why did you pick him?" Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found cup of tea. that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty upon the shelf for the interim." to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray such person." look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so a room. servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would conclusions. and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the "Yes, certainly." Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a come either from the window or the door. My attention was opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common Gutenberg-tm License. creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass other lovers by making love himself." and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into you understand?" without success. At last the little money which I had saved began "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of shag which I had seen upon the previous night. maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than said Mr. Holder. eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the was the fact that his father should, according to his account, near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I II. (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all