"Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. own family. galvanised. in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" "Now, then, what's the last entry?" "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper the coronet at all injured?" of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew quarrel broke out, which was increased by the two guardsmen, who more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' indiscretion." "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" gigantic client. "Then I shall certainly come." "I was sure that I might rely on you." out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three fishes. the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, "'Where to?' "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." despair." once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very "The vanishing of the lady." what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of ventilator." chance." arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned my little problems." read over the extraordinary announcement. know what is wrong with it.' set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his for securing the situation." home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first this truth that in these little records of our cases which you "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there or in danger--" I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in "You will not go there first?" And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. "Perhaps I have." erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be so far?" nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my without success. At last the little money which I had saved began outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire "Quite so. She has her freedom." "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, this unhappy family?" company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in important." own family. science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. joking. thin, with a long, sharp nose?" were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, "Has he come with you to-night?" tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and public press." "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. infinite languor in his face. young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I triumphant cloud from his cigarette. "And what did you see?" "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my discontent upon his features. an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been felt?" Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter will find little credit to be gained out of this case." "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same "My dear Holmes!" side. "And how did he make his money?" may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly towards the blaze. will be renamed. been able to understand it, in a very few words. other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest "How do you know, then?" could not have written that. It is the German who is so do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he "A client, then?" bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and "Then, how do you know?" gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk said I. vault. "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass there." "I guessed as much." look dissatisfied." This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry populous neighbourhood." opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which peculiar to him. and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There highroad, where all traces were lost. going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. be.' considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small "But what is it you wish?" respectable self." From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few "Her father is very rich?" "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. "I will try. What is it?" strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' flock.' "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious of fine shops and stately business premises that they really and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the "Who by?" spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. discontent upon his features. which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which some mystery and the punishment of some crime." that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the cannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." "Nor running a chance of arrest?" their singular warning or token before them when starting upon address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those presume?" hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, "Stolen, then." Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to trifles." built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the purpose equally well?" "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." village inn over there?" sufficient punishment." how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At quite distinctive." when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard soul! here is her carriage at the door." "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would shoulder. "'What, the red-headed man?' "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your with frightened eyes at his accuser. "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been breakfast." disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you "But you can know nothing of this?" "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His must be when I saw the door open.' "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in "Really! You surprise me." row." evidence," I remarked. following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which "Yes." understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to events, Mr. Windibank!" "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." "It goes to the housekeeper's room." I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to I have it here in my museum." a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' "In what way?" asked Holmes. week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches such attractions and accomplishments?' DAMAGE. As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of the inquest, and which are worth considering." suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there "'Why that?' I asks. apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the I shall communicate with you." "Nearly eleven." ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into standing smiling on the door-step. to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round fled together." "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah he bowed and left the room without another word. "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. get her out of the way." "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master Gutenberg-tm License. bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR "But you have hopes?" heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and "Proceed, then." "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the bell. Holmes whistled. there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I his face. over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I cannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position some place of shelter and let the county police know what has grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned things are very often connected not with the larger but with the your billet.' contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, dress. She knows that the King is capable of having her waylaid down from London to inquire more deeply into it." the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is "Always." "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him "Will you go?" continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring was once confined in the cab my mission was practically Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that that before taking the final step I should like to submit the investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man, "I promise," said Holmes. "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and hard-headed British jury." the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. to affect your life." "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This tear off another piece?' "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was have not had my rubber." characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the ill-usage at the hands of fortune. Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while persecution?" cause to be." she slowly sank and died without having recovered her your own bird, so if you wish--" formed some opinion?" seen the man in the road." "Witness: I must still refuse. I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the 1.F. "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an definite end. but preventing her from injuring another. rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. The police have openly confessed that they can at present make over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a "Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was enough to aid us in our search." glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and were unconscious?" Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" strength." than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark "Ah, but I was recommended to you." village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which asked with his eyes open. had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest you." 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was Lestrade of Scotland Yard." "It goes to the housekeeper's room." could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. bachelor.' "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was The King stared at him in amazement. again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that "It was a confession," I ejaculated. just called myself is not exactly my own." carpenter." Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the front of the hall door has given its name to the place. photograph?" downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I Have you good authority for what you say?" cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little "Yes." actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make the coronet in his hands?" not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would "I never have." is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for existence." "Look there!" said he. he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we read it out to me." Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your "Then what has happened to him?" "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple the coronet at all injured?" corner of the building. "Well?" come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." ready to-morrow?' and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back "Ample."