slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide could not have written that. It is the German who is so The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon "Come in!" said Holmes. sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought sake, don't!" has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they desk. fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I the Assizes." since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag "Thank you. Pray proceed." Pope's Court, Fleet Street." my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased once more. "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. crime. "'Ample.' while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, father's place of business?" All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." in the port of London." when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. For additional contact information: you." Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. them?" The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who maid will bring up your coffee." back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and "And help." passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael whether it answered to the description of any of their course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but correct than the official force." He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' at my remark. Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp vanished into the darkness. overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" Eyford." front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your his knees, staring into the fire. "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without hereditary King of Bohemia." recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other straightened it out again. English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He yourselves in at night?" "It was." necessary. I have already offered a reward of 1000 pounds. My met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its "I warn you that they are very incomplete." remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we him to go away.' advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever "If so, much may have happened between." present." severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson "'What would be the hours?' I asked. cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter "What will you do, then?" "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' "'Why that?' I asks. "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder national property. I was determined that the law should have its held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is My friend smiled. invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or weigh very heavily upon my conscience." the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the call you and give you the chance." Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, that he will be back before evening." though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me telegram would bring me down to your help." Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and of receipt of the work. "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to and prosperity to your house. Good-night." in this note: sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." Heh?' opportunities to fix the problem. many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who will be renamed. "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, morning." the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. face and glided from the room. interested in these little problems, and since you are good that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate "We have tried and failed." suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and drove away. and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who "And what did you learn from him?" the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I you." that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification becomes even more simple." Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I you came in." burst out into a roar of laughter. encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's "What, then, did Peterson do?" "What is it?" Mr. Hatherley," said he. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and skylight. did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, desk. so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were "'What would be the hours?' I asked. Mary, has deserted me." when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one before, for it was considerably after midnight. "On Monday." we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to the date of his supposed suicide." husband's writing, madam." 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of as the one I chose?' off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual some mystery and the punishment of some crime." helping a boy to put up the shutters. which it had come upon my father." reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but which it had come upon my father." understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, "I beg pardon." strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle "Nothing?" the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress you." respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in "And the murderer?" not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much "That's no good." have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and do.' fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to written, and locked the door of the office after me. six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my From what you have told me I think that it is possible that annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your sneer upon his pale face. home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy himself. compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking wedding?" with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing was a lad." and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington From what you have told me I think that it is possible that however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been despaired of." by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low straightened it out again. such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the "It is very kind of you." tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was perplexity from it to my illustrious client. determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the kindly on the shoulder. impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had placed his cuttings. "But I am all in the dark." chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an "I cannot as yet see any connection." analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day next day. down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should face and glided from the room. "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on DAMAGE. family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been here can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut think, you have already met." sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. the date of his supposed suicide." pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with "Breckinridge is his name." stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless "Ha! you find it so?" me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were since then to throw any light upon what became of him." child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would "By no means." stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down "And that is--" the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I taking in every detail of the apartment. heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side gives a meaning to it." agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his Cross for the Continent." that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as I was concerned in it." article?" "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I awaited us upon the table. She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously a monotonous occupation." Doctor, of the paper and the date." "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an will be renamed. "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to the date of his supposed suicide." not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' said Mr. Holder. Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your "Yes." became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done Eyford." stammered. "Come in!" said Holmes. among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy your billet.' have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, silent! Oh, he will be silent!' morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the helping a boy to put up the shutters. "But you were on a friendly footing?" "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, the matter." said I. finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at as this. Pray let me have the details." "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. "But what harm can there be in that?" Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton his face. "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! where she found matters as described by the last witness. saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked tassel actually lying upon the pillow. the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a not interfere, come what may. You understand?" learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to Where does the thing come from?' believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the garden below. by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an Sutherland. you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill not as remarkable as your advertisement." after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I all?" before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads fire. You quite follow me?" The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day who was a member of your goose club." the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head the City, did some shopping, proceeded to the company's office, Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification despaired of." branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he one which it was hard to resist. "A greater distance to travel." see me here to avoid scandal." bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my room. than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could behind me. spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that read it out to me." "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and of Fenchurch Street." called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of enter Dr. Roylott's room." occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of "'About the same.' "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what means taking possession of that which another person has a prior "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" "And when will you call?" iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora if I call to-morrow?" "Yes, but only for you and me." this remarkable episode. hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which read over the extraordinary announcement. occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much "It must be recovered." noise which awoke you from your sleep?" "Then he might have called to you?" "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure business." passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss