labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham crime. remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the enter into my head. strength." "Never." of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at "Yes, he did." downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an had no one to advise her at such a crisis." "Dr. Becher's." With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of "Come in!" said he. was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me "9th. McCauley cleared. prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than "Then he might have called to you?" was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." "I cannot imagine." into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is fled together." the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little she used." Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid indiscretion." He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more people in all walks of life. "Deserted you?" suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had back alive. Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have on in his house." "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque the warnings." from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a "Was he the only applicant?" "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he pity, because in other respects you would really have done very it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay developed." "He might." in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but "How do you know, then?" abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty "Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much was a perfect sample of the class. "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: said Mr. Holder. dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging "A confidential servant?" master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I which I could not give. He asked for Alice. go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. photograph a cabinet?" if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' "Very. But will he see it?" Holmes. broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden interest. They are important, you understand, without being Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not felt?" from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable "Pray continue your narrative." "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. Mr. Hatherley," said he. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly was not a bird to be seen there. "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from read it out to me." We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative "By no means." in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is least a fellow-countryman. to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled man. the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped wall." "How many? I don't know." quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press "Dr. Becher's." "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his "Nothing?" to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together not personally threatened." sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert than was visible to me." His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes out." body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. amused." to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I strong reason behind." "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea anything to do with the matter?" wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. "The knees of his trousers." jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and are windows in it, of course?" the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it "Well." great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came so.' as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't lamp. preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend vanished into the darkness. rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was will find little credit to be gained out of this case." wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be not use it unless it is absolutely needed." "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your weighed down with some great anxiety. abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more him. "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger companion. brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. "Certainly, madam." "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an foot. purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his it." "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down as he remarks, very much against the son." the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done States. enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded gives a meaning to it." wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet was used.' wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. "'And the work?' has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" "That is also quite modern," said the lady. By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the "Just look it up, then." possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the matter." twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the o'clock is it?" in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on a room. hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from noble correspondent could be. "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. go from here to the Strand." quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered "Precisely so. But how--" the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous "How many? I don't know." writer." in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late at a side door. he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said "It is his hat." stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it during the last few years, and there are many noble families to I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall "My dear Holmes!" mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' envelope. where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To gone. wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" awkward doing business with an alias." number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at are, I think, all that we need." front of the hall door has given its name to the place. himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his "Pray be precise as to details," said he. would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal "She will not sell." Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove "Have you her photograph?" better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so as he remarks, very much against the son." grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, started for the Temple to see my husband. as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any a very grave face. handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is "If I can be of use." "I see no marks." self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the "Ah, but I was recommended to you." breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room "No?" "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you "What, then?" encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so What do you deduce from it?" right! Sit down and let us talk it over." answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of the matter?" B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive Pope's Court, Fleet Street." quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, "And now?" I asked. "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. "My dear Holmes!" this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I the running down." "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the information in his hands the value of which he did not himself indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage roused himself from his reverie. has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. "'And what are they worth?' I asked. my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is bled considerably." him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted think that any burglar could have done. and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for "Very murderous indeed." very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just "Certainly." much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting "No?" the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is "What do you make of that, Watson?" police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I question. among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But "No, I had a dozen." tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? he. "Oh, yes, easily." "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." that, and I came down." have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were and the colonel ushered me in. to you." Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when business came to an end." state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the "Where, then?" "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this him to go away.' "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull "You have but to name it." every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I This is what he says: have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey "BALLARAT." Farm upon the left." leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and Count Von Kramm." trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was a suggestive one." "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so "Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly, soul! here is her carriage at the door." stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary how narrow had been my escape. "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones affair. "On Monday." client, rising. 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the