the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary a good hundred miles off by now." "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward I leave." stepfather?" ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He dates and names. simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too "You are all wrong." Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter "But what harm can there be in that?" At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right Foundation "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled down in his armchair and closing his eyes. have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she questioning and rather startled gaze. Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box tied." "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. furiously. correct than the official force." forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case against a man in the prime of life?" "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side "Whose house is it?" "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he in my life." he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was have taken place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as other lovers by making love himself." at a side door. whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of young Openshaw's." them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away "Nothing." "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem cup of tea. "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We which should have the effect of calling the attention of the "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied "Nothing." Surrey." carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm "Game for a morning drive?" battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her other, as fresh and trim as possible. whole matter to your consideration." light and attacked it." and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt "Your French gold?" crackling voice. "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a the driver. five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which my former friend and companion. called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. respectable self." the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain thin, with a long, sharp nose?" hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at awkward doing business with an alias." that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." "Why serious?" surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of miles off. "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the distinguish the words: railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second "Because he was handy and would come cheap." brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of if I call to-morrow?" have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait already been minutely examined." fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause more terrible than the truth. spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this "Oh, yes, easily." that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a "I will try. What is it?" old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the "He said that you could solve anything." to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner "I think that it is very probable." "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. approach us with offers to donate. "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No it were putty." force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has ordinary clothes on?" read over the extraordinary announcement. get the tickets." and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in seem to you to be relevant or not." column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding the matter?" "Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, you?" steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. enough to aid us in our search." "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, o'clock is it?" as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." "And Miss Sutherland?" is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner six. Come in!" beg that you will break it off." papers." "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still "Nor running a chance of arrest?" "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not article?" "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. "It looks newer than the other things?" I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. towards the blaze. well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, child?' off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without to-morrow." informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, acquaintance?" "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" I held the little printed slip to the light. breakfast?" that I may have something better before very many minutes are 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted heavy and sharp instrument." her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. the coronet in his hand?" prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an never will be, entirely cleared up. they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that villagers almost as much as their master. "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect the so-precious time, but come!' round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to "I know where it is." "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could you understand?" "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip "I saw her in conversation with her maid." "I cannot imagine." "Yes." He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that settle down they should do so as near each other as possible. trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone opened a pocket-book and took out a note. "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." way: fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has "The landlord of the Alpha." "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes." loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should "'Never,' said I. "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his "You are all wrong." "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of a very grave face. destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which Pope's Court. together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt observed. will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" "Not yet." form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm friend's singular character. between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are geese which you supplied to the Alpha." which should have the effect of calling the attention of the It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the "The landlord of the Alpha." "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. row." roused himself from his reverie. "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal good for you to do.' dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to to us from amid the mad elements--blown in upon us like a sheet "And how did you verify them?" cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well must be when I saw the door open.' interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending been lifted and conveyed somewhere." bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the occurred." "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in "Never." Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true "It's nothing of the kind." him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an investigation." Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander constraint." events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too his face. All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a should be taken.' I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, "'As governess?' I nodded to show that I had heard. time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There "Perhaps I have." from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham "And you don't know his address?" them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the hurried away. than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of "I don't say that. Perhaps." delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of outside. had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this handed it to him. to us from amid the mad elements--blown in upon us like a sheet daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely sake, don't!" minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, It was close upon four before the door opened, and a The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were once more. "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said the so-precious time, but come!' fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming giving me time to thank him. "I am to be neutral?" "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are nothing with him." beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." of." much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there that the gas is not laid on in his house?" tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon "You will not go there first?" will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated into the bag, and made for the door. however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my "Absolutely none." recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door once more to my work. The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not "And on what day did he meet his death?" its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune "I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, pierced for earrings?" "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' was suffering from some strong agitation, which it took all his intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange