chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home "Was your sister dressed?" "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a posted to-day." dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I or other trace. But how on earth--" that he will be back before evening." "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to "Nothing." "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the union?" "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the stood on the top of it. a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at long narrative. carried out of court." a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. once more to my work. nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my "What do you mean?" "It was." cigars in their mouths. brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now brandy and water within his reach. "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know drove away. Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, children over to America with him, so that I found myself without laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight "Not in a good cause." Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me shaken than I had ever seen him. own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to on re-entering her father's house?" 809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. outbreak?" once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that "You are certainly joking, Holmes." with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, IS "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long place of silver." the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old "'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress she used." I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, vault. "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the points to suicide?" this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, been lifted and conveyed somewhere." vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes assist you in forming an opinion." One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its following enigmatical notices: "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' not, dad?" she asked. heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my "Yes, that is the Crown." "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an his interest. Lestrade, being rather puzzled, has referred the Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of other means.' unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." "Could he throw no light?" a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" points in connection with it which never have been, and probably result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I "So I am. Very much so." his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was is so. I know all about McCarthy." that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at him nearly every evening." THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. "It's nothing of the kind." which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen good for you to do.' "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are country, and eventually married, without anyone having a While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it was a loud and authoritative tap. time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by "And how did he make his money?" two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other carriage. It was a chestnut." is worth.' at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep Sutherland?" "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no "I have solved it." through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room made him keep the appointment." undoubtedly my uncle's." he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, in this note: journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, "My dear Holmes!" coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I "Then you may entirely rely on me." The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit "Then you may be so with me." have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for "I hardly consider that a conclusive proof. Was the remainder of "To the police?" and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon feature." above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so delighted to hear it," he said. of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the people in all walks of life. "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to generous with you in money matters.' Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while "Could he throw no light?" our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and a good hundred miles off by now." business." "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence posted to-day." my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." lost his Christmas dinner." would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I criminal. We have already had experience of such." "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. burst into a hearty fit of laughter. "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his Sholtos." "Yes, I have one waiting." at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he his fortune, and I went back to pa. mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." forehead. lids now and glanced across at his visitor. "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back "Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if green of the new foliage. "I have solved it." chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of forebodings. found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings "'Yes, I promise.' "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the business." remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps "'Which dealer's?' once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and soul! here is her carriage at the door." be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw "'Not at all. I only doubt--' the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and "But I have heard all that you have heard." "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your "No?" Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local seen the man in the road." the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is miles off. worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a "That sounds a little paradoxical." as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, tell me that you intended to go into harness." one of the states of the Union." "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no "Witness: Nothing definite. he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City "'Entirely.' all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was happened." rooms." sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it License. You must require such a user to return or during which he might have communicated with his friend the slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H sitting-room in his dressing-gown, reading the agony column of The unpleasant thing about the house, which struck me at once, was McCarthy." Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your would apply.' of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." The note was undated, and without either signature or address. over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the will be renamed. She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to you in your example." "That is unusual in a young girl." "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his "You are hungry," I remarked. "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said "You are certainly joking, Holmes." "My private note-paper." it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without this remarkable episode. of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day appeared upon the scene." "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from the Assizes." should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. "At the wedding breakfast." extraordinary contortions. The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence pity, because in other respects you would really have done very "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to "Very murderous indeed." dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes." colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a "Who by?" a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, swear it on a Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in something of him before." "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take details." Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point "You were travelling in the States?" "The vanishing of the lady." instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly Stoke Moran." matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the this unhappy family?" "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at "But I have heard all that you have heard." downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he returning from some small jollification and was making his way "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and colour had been driven from his face. The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the "Then I am your man." owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, "Why? What do you mean?" answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again photograph a cabinet?" reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and of a light. "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he weighed down with some great anxiety. souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have "Pray be precise as to details," said he. of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional the very letters. But what is this written above them?' take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman a monotonous occupation." that he has suffered." Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a "Then, as to money?" the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight all-comprehensive glances. "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until sitting-room in his dressing-gown, reading the agony column of The reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's national property. I was determined that the law should have its as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you in a very precise fashion." and looked back. muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" gentleman's clothes. fish-monger and a tide-waiter." have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the outsides of the windows. "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to of a light. "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a Henry Baker is a member." let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the himself. Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case "How did he come?" they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind. "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. wedding?" way in." fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and obstinate." a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the developed." the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an "Well, but China?" chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in woman who has had her own way to make in the world. relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and the coronet in his hands?" "I cannot say that I have." hour?' filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now developed." arrested. You then--" it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he "Where is it, then?" you." along the entire front of the house, with three long windows Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass comes from the middle window." forbidden door. case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and tapping his fingers upon the table. last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room fire. You quite follow me?" trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. house for five minutes.' "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old