hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and "What then?" editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. ago." downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at "9th. McCauley cleared. "I am still in the dark." "Breckinridge is his name." that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness everything which you would wish to know." "But how?" arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." "'Very good.' served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial the morning and make my own way in the world.' direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. indeed happy." first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. "No, finished." "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical fled together." her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' gbnewby@pglaf.org great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, fire. You quite follow me?" twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I next day. week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door "Did you observe the colour?" James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. cause to be." eavesdroppers?' "I assure you that I am in your hands." his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not this unhappy family?" during which he might have communicated with his friend the "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my to tell." an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. congratulate you again." framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had "And is that all?" "But you would not advise me to refuse?" half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive be there in time for your coming." creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was room. had picked up in the wood. It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the what these perils are?" the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, "By all means." through." public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. likely to be some crony of the landlady's." before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. papers on the sundial.'" I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door "No, my brougham is waiting." there in twenty minutes." "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a works. near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would 1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing "And what did you see?" "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so "You know me, then?" salesman. I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." think you a quite exceptional woman." keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his "'Yes, sir.' As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. skylight. had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in "But how could you guess what the motive was?" "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they giving me time to thank him. much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he You can understand that this register and diary may implicate "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no manager. 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the "Yes, he did." kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." "Entirely." "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the "You have it, sir, just as it happened." arms and began to sob in a high treble key. The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so "Thank you. And your address?" he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, "Which are?" now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent nothing with him." any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that "Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly, whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of the ceiling. it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue a few minutes he said that it would be all right. you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how "The Cedars?" "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are your only hope of safety." conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual figure." 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast "What can it mean?" I gasped. outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. may have an influence upon European history." to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without a little more before I quite committed myself. days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his arrangements." horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an orange pips. III. business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. people don't know." "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De room. a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. this truth that in these little records of our cases which you "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." "What do you make of that, Watson?" asked. little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, Literary Archive Foundation the matter." investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry "I cannot think." those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar troubles have been weighing upon his mind. preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and in darkness. was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to "'Yes, it was gone.' LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall way in everything. on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which drove away. step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the electronic works "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the "This concluded the examination of the witness." among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and "We must sit without light. He would see it through the hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully hands. "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we page at http://pglaf.org returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful where Mr. Fordham shows you.' sound at heart." Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm someone who had been in Australia." Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty present." "From his hat?" Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott "I beg pardon." "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" Dr. Gregory B. Newby Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been "I cannot as yet see any connection." long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from "But she will refuse." "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to him to go away.' collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been I nodded to show that I had heard. silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her depend upon my doing so.' "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! your bag." thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you bonnet, and went out." "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger daring than any effort of the imagination." investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a "Is he quiet?" LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR IS "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey thought that she would have been so carried away." remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what excitement. be. "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is "What steps will you take?" I asked. The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a might have a private word with us. seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend delirious. "It goes to the housekeeper's room." does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to "What are they?" and a shock of very red hair. past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much "And from a noble client?" and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon figure." "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot intrusion of other matters." he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt "'What would be the hours?' I asked. know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open I am not easy in my mind about them." "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about that he will be back before evening." take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. over part of the map. "What do you read?" of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party exactly what you advise." of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It and the whole place is in a blaze." "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which burst into a hearty fit of laughter. and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed down. "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for me. You must get home instantly and act." attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which of Fenchurch Street." reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting you found me to-night--and running through the front room she "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would me. My gross takings amount to 27 pounds 10s. Every day, from "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily him, that man would not have given me such complete information for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that interested in these little problems, and since you are good "'Is 4 pounds a week.' which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy kindly on the shoulder. sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your them present such singular features as the strange train of of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, "'Yes, sir.' down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the "No legal papers or certificates?" on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, "No." the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who lumber-room." "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in "And why?" call the police, let the police find what they can.' cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in was suffering from some strong agitation, which it took all his objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my "But he might be a bachelor." that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in "She showed me, as I told you she would." you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the charged with?" the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running fish-monger and a tide-waiter." heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk matter over." if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" possible that we could bring him back to her? towards the blaze. where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and spare." about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more one's self under obligations.' insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was "Indeed, Doctor," said Holmes blandly. "Pray take a seat." light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her undoubtedly my uncle's." exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and