while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year the dangers which encompass me." my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, "Why did you beat the pavement?" confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last "It is solved." "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in politicians who had been sent down from the North. him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his business." envelope. journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." directors, with the result that you have seen." somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. "Yes." was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are tell him that I know him to be innocent." he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." ourselves in the office." fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert been deceived." "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes." both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a retorted upon me, and I on you." "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and hereditary King of Bohemia." address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with "Texas, I think." was not a bird to be seen there. "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed "Eh? What was that?" already been minutely examined." remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where "I am all attention, madam." of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than "In San Francisco, a year ago." of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, woman who has had her own way to make in the world. Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands acted in my house last night?" married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. "If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man out chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own there were one or two details which were new to me. But the that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some 'please.'" intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in subject to the trademark license, especially commercial smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling "She will not sell." "But you were on a friendly footing?" "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and "Bought." of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. tension within him. He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man, stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds of a light. effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." "Then I am your man." Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation 1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the British peeress.'" Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid "Which are?" see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship "Well, some hundreds of times." As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple like gravel from a pit.' the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some undoubtedly my uncle's." "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for "It is true that I have been generally successful." Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for have had none more fantastic than this." "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and lost. Nothing but energy can save you. This is no time for And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could "I cannot imagine." as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very fat-encircled eyes. "Is he quiet?" "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened "Why? What do you mean?" pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were carriage. It was a chestnut." "That was it, sir." re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included "Very good, Lestrade," said Holmes, laughing. "You really are McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had clang of the bell. laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be recall any case within my experience which looked at the first conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. "You were travelling in the States?" "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you were wasted." The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and there in twenty minutes." the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from open." "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project IS "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name mysterious business." despair." mystery may be cleared along those lines." and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not distance from the station, and there we found the young lady "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be window when the police appeared." down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER make me his representative both with the servants and with the awaited us upon the table. be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this "I shall most certainly do so." The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and into her hand at the door and which lured her within their thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds redistribution. of note-paper. It read in this fashion: but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low "About a month then." in him." inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora "'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler wedding?" by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the to where he stood hid behind the curtain. seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it certainly do as you advise." American. Then who could this American be, and why should he absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and success. an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the "I answered that I had not. "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's "'What would be the hours?' I asked. married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was that threaten you." that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must "The Cedars?" which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it in the hope of finding them." "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, Pool. my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice questioning and rather startled gaze. and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were "Do you go out much in society?" "I cannot imagine." as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've "Well?" utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get carpenter." without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was enough to aid us in our search." home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may "Then I am your man." all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and for its centre. side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" Miss Holder?" your bag." To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of ready to-morrow?' Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. away into the river." on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, "How did he come?" wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will "I warn you that they are very incomplete." "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. other means.' then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to "And why in hopes?" "Upon what point?" given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it daring than any effort of the imagination." had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and outside. stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy all-comprehensive glances. moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" "It is possible." himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view there were one or two details which were new to me. But the appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I "'Where could I find him?' "But you were on a friendly footing?" wedding?" chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to means taking possession of that which another person has a prior association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. possible that we could bring him back to her? envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend "It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to yet." "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a most important business. It is probable that he will be away all dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building evidence," I remarked. them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three upon the white wrist. the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go "Nothing?" crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do "A call for help, you thought?" "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, "Ten will be early enough." have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, presented more singular features than that which was associated "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" strength of mind to control. house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of and looked back. vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with you found me to-night--and running through the front room she so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous occurred." individual and becomes the badge of a society." observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very "And you can do nothing until then?" me." used to be." "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was man. with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be McCarthy's innocence. tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, and that he would see to anything that turned up. married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, with the outside air!" Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen, think that he is innocent?" of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round overpowering excitement and concern. When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him