away into the river." cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." excitement. "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away crime. long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish hereditary King of Bohemia." which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. to his chemical studies. and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised You want to know what became of those geese?" began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his "Yes." notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a "By all means." stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in "What then?" when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He "Pray do so." "Ample." "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our "Why did you pick him?" us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If "I was mad--insane." that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced "'Yes, sir.' your equipment. much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of washing it down with a long draught of water. "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a "I cannot think." "Awake, Watson?" he asked. There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin details should find their way into the papers. Inspector months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is "I have solved it." you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will over part of the map. "What do you read?" journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." hands. can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which "Where is it, then?" "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, closely." "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." directly by questioning you." together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. been able to understand it, in a very few words. tail." "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned you in your example." and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate "Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, highly," said Holmes. rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the mystery." vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass future lives." gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we help us in this matter." "The best possible." Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in "Then the page we have seen--" Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old "What steps will you take?" I asked. said he, "my real name is James Ryder." security.' "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his "The Coroner: What do you mean? B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. public press." lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and papers on the sundial.'" the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, I have it here in my museum." seven miles from Eyford Station.' "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love wedding?" think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go infinite languor in his face. "I see no marks." an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front the warnings." electronic works note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that "There are none." good for you to do.' the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls point our research must commence, and we will begin it by recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many "It is solved." I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with "My dear Holmes!" and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say placed his cuttings. papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and sentimental considerations in the background which would induce one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what fight. She had hardly said the words when young Mr. McCarthy came "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, will he say when he returns?" Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the "'You cannot say what it was?' union?" "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether "At what time?" straighten it?" be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish "You forget that I know nothing about it." "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek weighed down with some great anxiety. but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps "You know me, then?" "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided "9th. McCauley cleared. have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very in darkness. my secret was safe in his possession. reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking not personally threatened." three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how so.' snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master feature." single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small "At what time?" flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You tell him that I know him to be innocent." "And how?" case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was "Ah, but I was recommended to you." the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after "I am sure." it." And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more time." which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I "'Where could I find him?' "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he arrangements." was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your than to us. particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that has little to do with my story." doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers very morning of my second wedding." without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I "Oh, yes, easily." society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. extraordinary contortions. tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite fact, we may call it conclusive." furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the "Which surely he restored to their owner?" I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who bearing upon the case." everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face will take you up to see the machine.' her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would "Two days later this same performance was gone through under appeared upon the scene." would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop "Eh? What was that?" electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is held up the lantern and gazed about him. distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill and that he would see to anything that turned up. problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right "My dear Holmes!" to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was "Did you observe the colour?" think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of round with crates and massive boxes. "How did he come?" "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a occupations.' points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with "So I have heard." relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. your bag." is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and "Your presence might be invaluable." "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, during which he might have communicated with his friend the "None." way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in straighten it?" he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could peculiar to him. "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not "I fear not." "It is very clear." really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had "I have my revolver," said I. at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it "And why in hopes?" "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He children over to America with him, so that I found myself without the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was copied or distributed: the loss of it. while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I certainly not very gracious." time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our "That is it on the dressing-table." even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced and I shall be with you presently." "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, like that before?" and glanced through. remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." companion quietly. such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." information in his hands the value of which he did not himself "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic "Your sister is dead, then?" would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before as the one I chose?' you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three "You horrify me." "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he breakfast and whispered something to her husband. logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed know what is wrong with it.' the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At yet." "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you of your young ladies.' At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for started for the Temple to see my husband. which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong "Pray continue your narrative." never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a looking up at the numbers of the houses." "By train from Waterloo." "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself Munro.' mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses "Just look it up, then." commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder something of him before." through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the made him keep the appointment." Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home "'Where could I find him?' As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. "To the police?" man. I know him from the photograph." both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a "Not in the least." "I think that I had better go, Holmes." "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me business matters.' which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A drawing your inferences." up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and tightly behind him. "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he "Why did you beat the pavement?" part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the I took the paper from him and read as follows: Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering girl said." "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and and put his glass in his pocket. Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train papers diligently of late, have you not?" then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small written. that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is the side-table." One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as ventilator." protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was handed it to him. hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had ill-usage at the hands of fortune. effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar refused to deal summarily with the offence, but referred it to week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the later, upon the night of May 2nd." the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort Have you good authority for what you say?" combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change chemical work which was so dear to him. "Then what has happened to him?" minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, time." past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two public press." Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, "A client, then?" act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any cause to be." turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary fell over into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but the