This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the be sorry for having acted so harshly." creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted "Very. But will he see it?" headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his I took the paper from him and read as follows: Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with intimate personal affairs in this public manner." "My opinion is in no way altered." "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' "It is true that I have been generally successful." notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William "It came here." this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an nothing of it?" utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have was a perfect sample of the class. in. princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the it were putty." unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." to-night?' his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." father's young wife. When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building business at Coburg Square is serious." she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. mystery may be cleared along those lines." process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from least a most suspicious remark." I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding "I do." bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat on in his house." bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian "But you have hopes?" chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project rooms." "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid to some other building. boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand characteristics, but those are the more obvious." prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with like that before?" fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If "'Tell me all about it,' said I. "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and "I promise," said Holmes. heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my could go. that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must carriage. It was a chestnut." "Yes?" "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double you give your casting vote to?" bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises "Seven!" I answered. rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as of it with the greatest attention. large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived "I have my revolver," said I. roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many cigars in their mouths. "But who is he?" "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not without success. At last the little money which I had saved began true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." ran thus: which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son and glanced through. he. green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, important." through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the was a lad." petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he "My dear Holmes!" "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the upon an income of about 60 pounds." "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you are, I think, all that we need." and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that "Well, at least," said Holmes, "you have had your revenge upon words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you investigation." He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local "I do." money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, ran thus: knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian an introduction to him?" from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir how narrow had been my escape. not personally threatened." the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet Does that suggest anything?" into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden II. from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, Holmes' face clouded over. and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, vault. since then to throw any light upon what became of him." "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the disappearance of the bride.'" he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I walking." learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter wedding?" The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position "'A dozen yards or so.' scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a "'Is purely nominal.' his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, again before evening." "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" "I know where it is." Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit "9th. McCauley cleared. the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself the stones. which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, "'What then?' I asked. together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the During two years I have had three consultations and one small "Yes, they were peculiar boots." Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party "It is his hat." dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo was once confined in the cab my mission was practically writers could invent nothing more crude." morning." afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. "An enemy?" hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out where she found matters as described by the last witness. while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away "Murdered?" which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were breakfast?" "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal ago." severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' "I cannot tell." posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. touch that coronet?' lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the door?" cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And photograph a cabinet?" it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency his huge brown hands. "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I "A confidential servant?" mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; means taking possession of that which another person has a prior Does that suggest anything?" in his power. state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to very peculiar words of the dying woman?" when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the "I cannot as yet see any connection." in this way: "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of jaw, it is surely very clear that that side is less illuminated corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate is four-and-twenty." it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush lumber-room." entirely lost his self-respect." into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and papers on the sundial.'" tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody back alive. arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have Miss Holder?" banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, companion. flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." *** START: FULL LICENSE *** very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" are, and they are waiting for us." very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was "Pray tell us what has happened to you." will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I read over the extraordinary announcement. one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who in my life." "That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter. "I never have." who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and any more." and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or "And the murderer?" impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and a little more before I quite committed myself. annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up official police, but it is not pleasant to have a family his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the "My dear Holmes!" been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in any more." "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough think that any burglar could have done. "Can I be of assistance?" pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." swear it on a Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some "What will you say?" impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. roused himself from his reverie. much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may to where he stood hid behind the curtain. that he was averse to a marriage with so charming a young lady as if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely "Was there a secret marriage?" cheerful." "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but "Dark enough and sinister enough." that I am arrested." crime." this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his towards the blaze. scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my "Perfectly so." discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. spark where all is dark to me." Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. ventilator." which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of "Precisely so. But how--" "Then how many are there?" down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can "Deserted you?" hair?' carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I "And what did you see?" "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my young Openshaw's." another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he weary and pale-looking. on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked how narrow had been my escape. the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the and I shall be with you presently." before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his questioning and rather startled gaze. web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first very different level to your Majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some "Your French gold?" adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you has little to do with my story." will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the weigh very heavily upon my conscience." us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to