is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear fatally injured? case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of to you." dress. She knows that the King is capable of having her waylaid iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. "Yes, sir." to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." nice household for a young lady." awaited us upon the table. some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and the warnings." drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a good-night and bustled off upon her way. turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to a good hundred miles off by now." baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be papers." the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" prison!" his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire is," said he presently: "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the that he has suffered." "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of official police, but it is not pleasant to have a family silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of recover the gem." "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked said I. despair." papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." matter." doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, The King stared at him in amazement. "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and the house with me." I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure Chief Executive and Director When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste anything to a woman, for she would have her way." The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the American. Then who could this American be, and why should he upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at begun to whiten, even as mine has." gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as fact, we may call it conclusive." though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of written. dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. "But what is it you wish?" Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall relation between them, and what the object of his repeated and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to "And sit in the dark?" "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of "I think it very unlikely." come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. tassel actually lying upon the pillow. "'Stolen!' he cried. Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his "An enemy?" sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's annoyance, but no jest. servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back he. compunction about shooting them down." The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague "'I shall certainly be there.' "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by power." success. "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered official police." twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, not use it unless it is absolutely needed." "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" notes," he said. "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got "Yes, at the mines." there is a decided draught." She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your "How often?" purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works way in everything. "And I say east," said my patient. "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the your sleep?' "Quite so." doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is for securing the situation." possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross indeed happy." but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in his face. Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." "Thank you. And your address?" It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. "Yes." "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and congenial hunt. horse could go." "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey second." front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the "The knees of his trousers." her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a answered with a sidelong glance. "Thank you. Pray proceed." "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey "I have solved it." listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, you do it in twenty minutes!' "My Mary? Impossible!" with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day "Your French gold?" immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is States. "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was could go. which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you "And I say east," said my patient. case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you companion. Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an geese which you supplied to the Alpha." find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting particular state visit http://pglaf.org bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had bare slabs of marble. them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in your own bird, so if you wish--" it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but other means.' him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. drunkard. I ran to her and threw my arms round her, but at that still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" six. Come in!" cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive "How did you trace it, then?" James Windibank. Voilà tout!" and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to was once confined in the cab my mission was practically saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the Gutenberg-tm License. Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: never came back." electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on "'Certainly not. But why?' "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am annoyance, but no jest. "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the joking. and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, "There is the writing." of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." the best of training." bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that other, as fresh and trim as possible. my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I "And from a noble client?" remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform with some details as to your case." hard-headed British jury." crowd. she used." "I warn you that they are very incomplete." good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get "It is a murder, then?" believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly "Entirely." - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, "We must sit without light. He would see it through the serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to me. "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?" remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no "Of Friday, June 19th." preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular the nursery. "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so shoulder; "he's all right." footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed her also." all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot you found me to-night--and running through the front room she "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed to tackle the facts." propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad "To an end?" grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass again before evening." Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I for securing the situation." the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side sooner or later she must fall a victim. magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three "He might." evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the to you." gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his at my own good fortune. cheerful." words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, it right.' only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the "My dear Holmes!" with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss constraint." The events in question occurred in the early days of my your room." "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. examination of the premises, but without finding anything which bonnet, and went out." shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against maiden herself was most instructive." "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the "Your French gold?" maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious. "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of had picked up in the wood. "ARAT," I read. "'Why that?' I asks. sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country place of silver." "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. "Was he the only applicant?" Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to "Very truly yours, "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how "Entirely." could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average forecastle of an emigrant ship. to take care of herself." of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. "'Quite sure, dad.' "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am asked. be best to do. "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your what do you think they found in the pockets?" hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at telegram would bring me down to your help." Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly the matter?" "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" lost his Christmas dinner." this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an copied or distributed: when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your "One horse?" interjected Holmes. metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of friend's singular character. "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the lamp. Mr. Hatherley," said he. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go even of instruction." streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a "Game for a morning drive?" company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who I leave." perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now laugh and put his lips to my ear. arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go had formerly been in part my own. nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. be.' are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the might help us?" "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, anything to a woman, for she would have her way." the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." matters immensely." of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress "Thank you. And your address?" "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a "A thing like a cleaver," said he. "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California something of him before." vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp