"Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. "Yes, certainly." "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told "Was she in good spirits?" homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his affair. never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. "You have compromised yourself seriously." "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship him!" servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards fear." The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the row." quick march!" from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out "I think it very unlikely." profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the good-night and bustled off upon her way. uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be "You have done wisely," said my friend. "But have you told me vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should observe it at the time. Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to been lifted and conveyed somewhere." other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 not fit the lock." "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved over here." form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" photograph?" passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she Munro.' hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name used to be." "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, recall any case within my experience which looked at the first this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them fear." allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my "Stolen, then." "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the writers could invent nothing more crude." glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself "You horrify me." "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. of the way of danger. in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we events, Mr. Windibank!" excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his "And how did you verify them?" Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. me. society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone fear." "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' country, and eventually married, without anyone having a walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and "The Cedars?" "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, people in all walks of life. studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and your equipment. Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. Holmes' thin, eager face. and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the strength." a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against "That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter. there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and "Ample." "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. "I will get her to show me." place no limit on the sum I may draw." of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should seven miles from Eyford Station.' father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning cigar and let me expound." bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off Mary, has deserted me." There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the hour?' Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the at my own good fortune. until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. "'Never,' said I. Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered main points of my analysis." the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend name is different." in darkness. "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a in him." the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he that he will be back before evening." "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken hour?' said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, entirely lost his self-respect." conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were is four-and-twenty." the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on chance at all." "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting sneer upon his pale face. and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the bird of prey. showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive narrative." had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, one of them." aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small "But his lameness?" "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, pictures, libraries, or plate. "'Certainly not.' present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never "It looks newer than the other things?" something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of taking in every detail of the apartment. glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen, Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of your co-operation." presented which may be striking and bizarre without being less than 26s. 4d. "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared not as remarkable as your advertisement." noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, acquaintance?" of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. "How did he come?" pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all "That sounds a little paradoxical." promised to bring home. glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." three of the beryls in it, was missing. from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and mystery." You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" "To an end?" departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual "Quite so. She has her freedom." outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must the driver. was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, been deceived." By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the "'There is a drive, then?' "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have 'please.'" "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. "You think that he is dead?" and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was "Well?" results." down. for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." and looked back. "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the a monotonous occupation." "And your father? Did you tell him?" Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over "We must have a cab." "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my "In what way?" asked Holmes. and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with "'Then let me do so?' in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered my friend's incisive reasoning. Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm records." air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." begin with, and I had not got mine yet." turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part sit on the left-hand side of the driver." for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? breakfast." say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." "She showed me, as I told you she would." you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger gone before you can get him to hospital." "Yes, only one." Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this "Then I do not see the point." I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. had a long day." stood on the top of it. unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My definite end. can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to will he say when he returns?" "She showed me, as I told you she would." Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was "Then, as to money?" imbecility!" he cried. works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would in the port of London." who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced appeal." us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of is worth.' "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture union?" they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his points to suicide?" once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in I think that I could be of assistance to you." "Only as much as we can deduce." "And why?" of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually been deceived." closing the door. immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that "Eh? What was that?" sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, could go. my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and appointment with me for six o'clock?" "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he Sholtos." such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist public press." little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court place, I think that there is good ground to think that the some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and "How are you getting on?" railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had it." the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master chair. with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. "Quite so." "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would "Was the window open?" the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would or other trace. But how on earth--" the room while you explain this matter?" manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is October 9, 1890. mysterious business." "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the "No, my brougham is waiting." one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" persecution?" certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary to Leatherhead. thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature prison!" "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist "I should be immensely obliged to you." chemical work which was so dear to him. I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we said he. first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, him and tried to hold him back. to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my he. "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to empty. it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into "She walked into the breakfast-room." "I have a cab outside." "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads of the vacancies.' "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" "Was she in good spirits?" "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a business." and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a with some details as to your case." yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges that before taking the final step I should like to submit the If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought singular points about the case. What did the police think of the disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and "No." appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler even of instruction." broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, keep the flames under. hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too tell them apart.' remarked. to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the you give your casting vote to?" "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. "Then he might have called to you?" morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my "My private note-paper." maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the "The vanishing of the lady." Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat mystery." never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." stepfather?" her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, "You don't mind breaking the law?" "It must be recovered." of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his a few minutes he said that it would be all right. "What! Had he lost his wife?" settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she