"Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' nonsense.' nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." hour." "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' if she died from some sudden fright." "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old "'Why that?' I asks. point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had "The Coroner: What do you mean? "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you "It came here." this remarkable episode. along the entire front of the house, with three long windows Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. had died away into the silence from which it rose. presented which may be striking and bizarre without being "'What are you doing there?' he asked. ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. "You horrify me." daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder my foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. here can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew think, you have already met." "'About the same.' the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." companion quietly. both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all it were putty." Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful forbidden door. "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. not within a twentieth part of the market price." gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At minor matters until to-morrow." "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are friend's singular character. follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to quick march!" and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two "It is possible." such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to been anything against him. He had for years been known as a about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains "At the wedding breakfast." same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in I nodded to show that I had heard. "What! a murderous attack?" to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce to go into your room and bar your shutters?" "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate Foundation any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, careless servant girl?" foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with "'Never,' said I. to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made read over the extraordinary announcement. "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with have accepted such a situation. in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just joking. "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler." "Is he quiet?" manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long "Imitated." "But his lameness?" speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm Project Gutenberg-tm works. It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs of the efforts of the United States government and of the better recall any case within my experience which looked at the first was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in a good hundred miles off by now." "I have hopes." "And what then?" later, upon the night of May 2nd." and inquire as to the address." "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, God! What an exposure! What can I do?" full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future "On Monday." doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" attention." Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." "And that is--" Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" your co-operation." From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert tapping his fingers upon the table. "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most "It was a confession," I ejaculated. moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing away into the river." not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and you found me to-night--and running through the front room she said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money your own bird, so if you wish--" both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose nights." landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods frequently gained my first real insight into the character of the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would Holmes rather sternly. that I am arrested." infinite languor in his face. her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted "Yes, sir." Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this to-night." shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was "9th. McCauley cleared. "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, "I am armed." "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and be. come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever what is your own theory as to what took place?" Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, correct than the official force." "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall eat it." the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt through." specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked cost them two and thirty pounds." conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the works. See paragraph 1.E below. "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I "But she could not love him." note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without "In San Francisco, a year ago." knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that outside." knowledge of the world." must compliment you." of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a all-comprehensive glances. gives a meaning to it." from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." overpowering excitement and concern. sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in case-book, which he consulted. there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last "Yes." even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The look dissatisfied." convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. "There are none." between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any clang of the bell. salesman. peculiar to him. rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." to a more successful conclusion." wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste geese which you supplied to the Alpha." there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even least a fellow-countryman. few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you any." Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. "I was mad--insane." We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. cause to be." bearing upon the case." hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke friends, not even his own brother. "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, might help us?" Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on the inner apartment." may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of passage and a tap at the door. spark where all is dark to me." of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." "Nearly eleven." "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler the Assizes." rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the be.' "Yes, it was twisted." wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United "Breckinridge is his name." will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, But Holmes shook his head gravely. which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out villagers almost as much as their master. shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their existence." strong reason behind." the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass business." often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER made him keep the appointment." "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, any assistance, either to you or to my friend here, I shall be compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been "By no means." be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly followed. shall use the carriage to-night." absolutely follow my advice in every respect." news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We "Only as much as we can deduce." "Is he quiet?" case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are "And leave your case unfinished?" Holmes' face clouded over. beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed business matters.' "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled sneer upon his pale face. have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort stood on the top of it. "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very "A confidential servant?" made his money." of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the "He might." Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to hurried away. to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." "Yes." myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you night.' said he. of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the and I shall be with you presently." "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. outsides of the windows. half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the 1.F. 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. said I. himself in a perplexing position. and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy pound a week." B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to think that he is innocent?" Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it "Well, some hundreds of times." correct than the official force." ashen face. the coronet at all injured?" insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was on re-entering her father's house?" reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I look dissatisfied." along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding as he remarks, very much against the son." The note was undated, and without either signature or address. "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a me have 200 pounds?' the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I possible that we could bring him back to her? "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason bled considerably." room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable seven miles from Eyford Station.' "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources companion imperturbably. "Inspector Bradstreet, sir."