"Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed hour?' was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then "'And what salary do you ask?' column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I once more to my work. incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's refused to deal summarily with the offence, but referred it to "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed "'I have already given you my word.' possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and front of the hall door has given its name to the place. treasure which we had under our roof, suppressing only the name 1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to "Here?" seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my locked." was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't "Game for a morning drive?" King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" thin legs towards the fire. advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no thirty. I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler." "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret You want to know what became of those geese?" de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. "Yes." cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies "Is he quiet?" happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' "Pray do so." whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, you." dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I "'Where could I find him?' beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out "Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her to-night?" I asked. part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black fait accompli?" man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, "You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me of note-paper. It read in this fashion: "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a indeed happy." of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a some water from a caraffe. had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution copied or distributed: there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really "Yes, it was twisted." in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, "'There is a drive, then?' ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire suggested at once that there must be a communication between the "What! You do not mean bodies?" fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. have got?" his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door formed some opinion?" James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood brought there to personate someone, and the real person is "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a "No." difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the Have you good authority for what you say?" down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning obstinate." "He disappeared so suddenly." Pope's Court. During two years I have had three consultations and one small see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was despaired of." "Frequently." helping a boy to put up the shutters. yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" politicians who had been sent down from the North. deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my burst out into a roar of laughter. case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through "I will try. What is it?" "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the writing, and yet I know it well." "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a new duties?' actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. bird of prey. cheerful." rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for not personally threatened." was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by imbecility!" he cried. the side-table." pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. it? Did I buy the geese off you?" strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And politicians who had been sent down from the North. I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were "I have seen the police." down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in noting anything else of interest. the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." fishes. you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, "There are none." "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been was a loud and authoritative tap. once more to my work. the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found power." is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a "Here?" prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed "Very well, sir. And this stone?" man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, begun to whiten, even as mine has." of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, said he. Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become touch that coronet?' he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, his wife has ceased to love him." been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. "I have come for advice." repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." been." hour?' "Which surely he restored to their owner?" have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is throat." Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs shag which I had seen upon the previous night. so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the "And you can do nothing until then?" impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle attention." tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE "He said that you could solve anything." the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him hard-headed British jury." contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain burst out into a roar of laughter. My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize "You have but to name it." through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, some city in a dream. "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms happened." presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin directly by questioning you." breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I never went wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I'll But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my some place of shelter and let the county police know what has waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and treasure which we had under our roof, suppressing only the name "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety together. familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." "You think so, too?" "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." strength." Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, "Were they all fastened this morning?" companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but stepfather?" presume?" American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have "But how did you gain them?" "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey long narrative. excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear been." page at http://pglaf.org clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside and capable of preserving a secret.' Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my recall any case within my experience which looked at the first "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I during the last few years, and there are many noble families to "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my individual and becomes the badge of a society." as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback Doctor, of the paper and the date." staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the the stable lane now." occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" "VIOLET HUNTER." beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled respectable self." swear it on a Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the "To the police?" state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. had a long day." relief. to have that photograph." "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, "Your sister is dead, then?" shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, or in danger--" near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the For additional contact information: dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." perplexity from it to my illustrious client. been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do Watson," he said cordially. those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. "I do." it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can started for the Temple to see my husband. "I have solved it." And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might "It was a confession," I ejaculated. "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a within hail.' you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most presented which may be striking and bizarre without being from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution persecution?" photograph?" "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some present strange and interesting features that it is no easy your sleep?' in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in "And the murderer?" about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, just called myself is not exactly my own." "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused the devil!" the driver. have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I presented which may be striking and bizarre without being an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying few hundred pounds.' that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it I have it here in my museum." girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped detained." acted in my house last night?" agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp goes." in darkness. She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his companion. heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." brandy and water within his reach. "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done "Here?" cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I my friend's incisive reasoning. "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." "'Yes, sir.' Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it cost them two and thirty pounds." circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. burst out into a roar of laughter. "'Certainly,' I answered. "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and himself.