then?" disappearance of the bride.'" "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small your billet.' emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, over his head with a sweet womanly caress. planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of good for you to do.' The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a the Friday. Was it to be in church?" "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion "What are they?" "Then how many are there?" access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face "'About the same.' house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. "Stoke Moran?" said he. taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion note?" arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed "Pray tell us what has happened to you." promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that had died away into the silence from which it rose. civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found you." "You heard nothing yourself last night?" She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. "And you can do nothing until then?" have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such for its centre. stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower "'It is locked up,' I answered. "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he secret." reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. "Imitated." "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the test if we have an answer to our advertisement." Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his I took the paper from him and read as follows: direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical me where it went to?" electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are placed his cuttings. peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every "None. Neville wrote those words." Sutherland. me. You must get home instantly and act." "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one and that he would see to anything that turned up. he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between hurried by. "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though "Nothing?" suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in strong reason behind." going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I Holmes' face clouded over. of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, "But his left-handedness." security.' arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. "I was afraid that you were engaged." grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. row." "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into very morning of my second wedding." "I came to find a friend." "Come in!" said he. me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble could not have written that. It is the German who is so of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He here." he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him "My dear Holmes!" waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project question," said Holmes, smiling. but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by upon the white wrist. data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full "No, I think that I'll take it." "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And "Pray let us have it, for all that." the devil!" Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab weigh very heavily upon my conscience." The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements closely." o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to appointment with me for six o'clock?" handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my copied or distributed: with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any you found me to-night--and running through the front room she "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat where we are going." sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." suddenly upon us." crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those "I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You "You will not go there first?" following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, gone before you can get him to hospital." me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is my little problems." pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to "But what is it you wish?" "One?" question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony "And how in the world did you find them?" go from here to the Strand." interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in "Yes." face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, lucky chance, I think that we have got them right enough." "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, have established a very serious case against the son of the the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, British peeress.'" pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the Project Gutenberg-tm works. beg that you will break it off." who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for I leave." he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not "But how?" "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very hands. is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you "An enemy?" and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps "Which surely he restored to their owner?" Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself new acquaintance to Baker Street. found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he "Yes." go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, to-night." overpowering excitement and concern. "And your mother is alive?" a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a mystery may be cleared along those lines." was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, the loss of it. pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. window when the police appeared." "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a than was visible to me." "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from the very letters. But what is this written above them?' how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed "Yes." nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after "I don't say that. Perhaps." no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, "Where did he live, then?" "Then I shall certainly come." affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no "None." I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an "No good news?" gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he "Can I be of assistance?" "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he "You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of "It may not come to that," said Holmes. is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day about here speaks of his kindness to him." crime." undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then "It must be recovered." before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three becomes even more simple." ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend "'Yes, sir.' see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt "I will not look." in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at gigantic client. "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the your Highness to the police-station?" why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do necessary. I have already offered a reward of 1000 pounds. My and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." breakfast?" Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the "And from a noble client?" order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. "I should like to see him very much." "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." were new raised from a basin. the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get beyond words. and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or there has been an enclosure here!" "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these "You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been a very grave face. "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to "It means that it is all over," Holmes answered. "And perhaps, "Imitated." It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, flock.' The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on discontent upon his features. smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange "Pray let us have it, for all that." and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears "Yes, it was twisted." and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire within hail.' We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes "Stoke Moran?" said he. moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were not fit the lock." judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her gentleman's clothes. walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." plantation.' "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little open." day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take "Perhaps we may make them less so." discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an done what I asked you, Jones?" sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to frequently gained my first real insight into the character of ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were question you as to those details which seem to me to be most my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face upon the sideboard." "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, newspaper selections." ashen face. which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of returning from some small jollification and was making his way Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual "Entirely." "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, of your young ladies.' "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." drove away. hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and security.' "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which "A client, then?" home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned "And your mother is alive?" "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and "You have but to name it." direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from business in the City. She little knew what. straighten it?" back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which and inquire as to the address." voice, changing her seat as requested. penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, been able to understand it, in a very few words. "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have window when the police appeared." chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. answer." "My private note-paper." business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. Clair, of Lee." after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way "Why did you beat the pavement?" Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general "And how?" miles off. across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is "What can it mean?" I gasped. Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not "I warn you that they are very incomplete." "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom "'I am sure if I had known--' for securing the situation." possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this "None." family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite "What office?" "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them