Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew to arrive at through this?" Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with hopeless attempt at recovering them." the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his "No." you give your casting vote to?" "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which "Which are?" Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor "I was afraid that you were engaged." "And how did you verify them?" "Certainly." at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood back into the street. in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of where Mr. Fordham shows you.' Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, pictures, libraries, or plate. furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it "And Miss Sutherland?" could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. him. would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" that you saw all that I did." compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his locked." reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't may have an influence upon European history." is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square not use it unless it is absolutely needed." confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the the Friday. Was it to be in church?" waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss it means?" the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." strength of mind to control. gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." was it brought him the coronet? month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her to Leatherhead. so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, plantation.' don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black "Of what day?" simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been face and glided from the room. Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, "We have tried and failed." abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for been anything against him. He had for years been known as a his fortune, and I went back to pa. interest. They are important, you understand, without being "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair one's self under obligations.' everything which you would wish to know." increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters "I should like to see him very much." journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the "'Certainly,' I answered. About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which "What is it, then--a fire?" learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She problems help me to do so." papers diligently of late, have you not?" will he say when he returns?" Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to matters immensely." suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his this remarkable episode. burst into a hearty fit of laughter. it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you annoyance, but no jest. "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the "An enemy?" had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight "'And what salary do you ask?' me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, "On your arm?" "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. "In what way?" asked Holmes. the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know "It's nothing of the kind." years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." that there was nothing in it, after all." "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the "'Very good.' Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray "In San Francisco, a year ago." running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a approach us with offers to donate. its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that obstinate." What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. call for protection in the marriage market, for the present the ceiling. Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am "Yes." The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and "A client, then?" prison!" "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch down from London to inquire more deeply into it." I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with "I would pay ten." "Ah!" I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these minor matters until to-morrow." but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' thin, with a long, sharp nose?" astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence round and wave him away like that.' nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY "At half-wages, in fact." could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get eat it." was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been I nodded to show that I had heard. clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of "'Is 4 pounds a week.' aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. "I should be immensely obliged to you." "Murdered?" "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered trifles." Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes "Then what has happened to him?" which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea open." pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a fact, we may call it conclusive." in a friendly supper." "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. and the colonel ushered me in. his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and noble correspondent could be. London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, "By no means." which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he man. that he will be back before evening." and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the get the tickets." hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a of the efforts of the United States government and of the better horse could go." safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my "No. His orders were to stay in the house." vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. "I have seen the police." "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me conversation I have gathered that they have been married about With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another chamber." stalked out of the room. "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, subject to the trademark license, especially commercial "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton into the bag, and made for the door. room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the only touch the interest." he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would "VIOLET HUNTER." What do you deduce from it?" the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It amused." the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. "That is unusual in a young girl." this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon "It is to him that this trophy belongs." have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate "ARAT," I read. piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way "Witness: I must still refuse. before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this letters?" and I shall be with you presently." where she found matters as described by the last witness. "Did he not advertise?" deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." "The vanishing of the lady." Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body "You have it, sir, just as it happened." "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the it. years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." "Come in!" said he. "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free "You horrify me!" many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go McCarthy's innocence. disturbance in my wife." hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in eat it." my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, best detective that ever lived. however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until "Yes. He waved his hands." It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the strong and stiff." "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of true." should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried ago." "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and maid will bring up your coffee." "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." matters immensely." deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys "Was your sister dressed?" window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where the room while you explain this matter?" name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to "An enemy?" gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents I am not easy in my mind about them." ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father "'Oh, no.' brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger purpose equally well?" King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a "No, I had a dozen." no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now gbnewby@pglaf.org "Entirely." used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it "Here?" "You have the photograph?" other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, "'Not at all. I only doubt--' "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. row." "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do "Really! You surprise me." the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as to tell." murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no "Yes." "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing "About a month then." in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going appeal." And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? "Not I." something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated swore that no one else had been in the front room during the presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I fire. You quite follow me?" name is different." "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such it." "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds British peeress.'" "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable to-night?' without success. At last the little money which I had saved began there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my back into the street. beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, address. "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be "Nothing?" depend upon your compliance." once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if