question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so me, and I could not think that his explanation of the "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, simple cases which are so extremely difficult." abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box furiously. work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I the matter." "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle to where he stood hid behind the curtain. "On the contrary, this is the right side." contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but once more to my work. considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point Eyford at 11:15.' mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we this Miss Turner." more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." "I have seen the police." narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all now. It seems that there had been some informality about their the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his your Highness to the police-station?" "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked in his power. the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, "Thank you. Pray proceed." guilty parties." "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. which was all perfectly true. weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you that he was averse to a marriage with so charming a young lady as of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to "I cannot imagine." was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was new duties?' eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in best detective that ever lived. flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her is acting for the best. should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I "I should be immensely obliged to you." heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife not, dad?" she asked. since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in third from London." through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days him, that man would not have given me such complete information implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE started for the Temple to see my husband. window, cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face address. then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, shadow pass over his face as I spoke. the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. quickly through a disagreeable task. no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in could go. he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" "My last client of the sort was a king." cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." least a fellow-countryman. shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room "Entirely." had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded "Stolen." in his hands." "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. out of this horrible affair." another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive "'You cannot say what it was?' observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. way: "'Why that?' I asks. can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our whether it answered to the description of any of their retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser hardly wander." walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my "And how did you verify them?" clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against "Witness: It was. knowledge of the world." Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he away to you." outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a I nodded to show that I had heard. Chief Executive and Director was feeling which was the fattest.' brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he outside. "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary your billet.' either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. "I cannot imagine." commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his question," said Holmes, smiling. hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She sneer upon his pale face. old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his examine." hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence people don't know." reach." my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried "It was." fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. "And now?" I asked. reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly shoulder. money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little once more for Briony Lodge. of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely been shamefully used." green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There seen the man in the road." from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a very different level to your Majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our man. of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an tension within him. "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the sooner or later she must fall a victim. and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his which presents any features of interest. It is possible, however, sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them becomes even more simple." stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. go from here to the Strand." job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE once more. "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" will not take me long to tell. started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' to talk it over. "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both more solid." He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my so.' Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud empty. result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor in this note: seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a were new raised from a basin. "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the "Two days later this same performance was gone through under an introduction to him?" I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid "'Certainly,' I answered. from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, "One horse?" interjected Holmes. light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by "Entirely." photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something seem to you to be relevant or not." but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself experiences." objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass "Deserted you?" "'About the same.' inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears indeed which he could not unravel. characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit from you?" charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my system of imprisonment?" long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle and the church but not where the lady lived." have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the "I should wish to." come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far present." matter." "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" "You have the photograph?" He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I kind enough to tell me what I should do." request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been that I can to serve you." IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB "What office?" even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and "Nothing?" which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts Lee, in the county of Kent." open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment province." "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune "'I am sure if I had known--' "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." soul! here is her carriage at the door." "It came here." "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the "I cannot as yet see any connection." which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the "You have compromised yourself seriously." Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon "'And what are they worth?' I asked. of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know which our visitor detailed to us. return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the "At what time?" "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" "Then, how do you know?" case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never money should be paid at once.' strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore have I gained?" again, where I was soon asleep. her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the "I don't say that. Perhaps." blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the experiences." "I would give my fortune to have them back." His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a bearing upon the case." consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after outside. "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking business came to an end." affection." had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. appointment with me for six o'clock?" "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than "In answer to an advertisement." George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. My friend smiled. "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled sound at heart." gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the front of the hall door has given its name to the place. We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with hereditary King of Bohemia." "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind in the dead of the night?' "I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event "By train from Waterloo." enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in second window is the one that I jumped from." and prosperity to your house. Good-night." "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what to talk it over. protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project noting anything else of interest. "I have my revolver," said I. chair. "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for disturbance in my wife." "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my "No, I think that I'll take it." such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of and laid it on the table. "One of his hands." was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think think, you have already met." not as remarkable as your advertisement." "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small father's place of business?" acquaintance?" family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature "'Stolen!' he cried. "What is it?" "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings into the bag, and made for the door. chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, "My dear Holmes!" outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable James Windibank. Voilà tout!" without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See entirely devoid of interest." the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my before, for it was considerably after midnight. place no limit on the sum I may draw." You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a think you a quite exceptional woman." Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' prepare for the new role I have to play." usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He "None." and have this put in the evening papers." confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even place, I think that there is good ground to think that the article?" Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the I held the little printed slip to the light. immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. "I was mad--insane." black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters,