well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account there when the Rucastles went away." Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking most interesting one." furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite man. I know him from the photograph." down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three the station." "No." upon the sideboard." it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been was a loud and authoritative tap. own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared "But how will you look?" fasten all the windows?" his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind I shall continue with my miserable story. husband's writing, madam." "But I have heard all that you have heard." unclasping of his long thin hands. we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. "But your client--" had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward "How do you know, then?" that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks weighed down with some great anxiety. central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was "Deserted you?" I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our feature." "'Ample.' certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, of fine shops and stately business premises that they really established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused "Won't it ring?" copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon begun to whiten, even as mine has." in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. "No." perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty "Oh, the cause is excellent!" the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the woman who has had her own way to make in the world. vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, thin legs towards the fire. reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a companion. "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that begun to whiten, even as mine has." "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, Again Holmes raved in the air. man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an congenial hunt. "'A dozen yards or so.' is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate fait accompli?" bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. was suffering from some strong agitation, which it took all his was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, strength in the others." "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' "But it has twice been burgled." and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again "Get out!" said he. his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to the running down." unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those searched, without anything being found which could incriminate "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up of note-paper. It read in this fashion: "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no "I have hopes." clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with will not take me long to tell. to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" him nearly every evening." before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in confronted him. Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the present." beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. done what I asked you, Jones?" and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a my little problems." "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small off." and the church but not where the lady lived." charge against him will break down." "I think it very unlikely." bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for to some other building. quite distinctive." "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. "But what is it you wish?" "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This "How on earth--" called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without shoulder; "he's all right." "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience look upon these things in a different way." with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there and have this put in the evening papers." "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for "You know me, then?" "Imitated." study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving meant." his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. "And help." pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling "She told me to ask you." might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the morning." "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you impression behind it as though a window had gently closed us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he enter into my head. wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in all?" already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the "'I am sure that I do not know.' were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up "You think so, too?" We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand "And Irene Adler?" our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the you for a few hours?" the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we spare." when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation "What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated. reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a have one." propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy outside." matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have own family. "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an desk. It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to you?' "When did it break out?" Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your "ARAT," I read. call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to "Yesterday." member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a question. "I assure you that I am in your hands." What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I arms and began to sob in a high treble key. to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic "'As governess?' "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still becomes even more simple." justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside face which spoke her joy. "I have been waiting so eagerly for before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the hurried away. "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of with her." the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building fish-monger and a tide-waiter." evidence," I remarked. drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy "Just look it up, then." the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was "And that is--" along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were new acquaintance to Baker Street. "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time "Why, what do you mean?" "My own seal." the City, did some shopping, proceeded to the company's office, days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were congratulate you again." you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard Pool. the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors him." "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. that threaten you." "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." "No, I had a dozen." "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of "It is true that I have been generally successful." "It is no ordinary one." near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen again." when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' "Your presence might be invaluable." lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as anything to do with the matter?" "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the "Now, then, what's the last entry?" which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." fish-monger and a tide-waiter." "At what time?" enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was "I would pay ten." "And how did you verify them?" listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down "If so, much may have happened between." one of the states of the Union." paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap your only hope of safety." really the only notable feature about the thing." Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary "A thing like a cleaver," said he. "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my tapping his fingers upon the table. "Then how many are there?" a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. affection." "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman behind me. "Did you observe the colour?" "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had "How did that help you?" "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in these bleak autumnal evenings." and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll believe that I should never have any practice at all. "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." means taking possession of that which another person has a prior a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had bare slabs of marble. were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish your most interesting statement." floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was a few minutes he said that it would be all right. "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself the armchair which I pushed forward for him. "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and again before evening." "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge read over the extraordinary announcement. doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque begin with, and I had not got mine yet." there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and system of imprisonment?" said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must him to go away.' they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in been with you?" outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the a good hundred miles off by now." "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and time." everything which you would wish to know." "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some crime." "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they redistribution. wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on