merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was "Where, then, is my wife?" shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed "Stolen." hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old on re-entering her father's house?" License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until observe it at the time. Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which in this note: young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man, the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had "You did not overhear what they said?" the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, of it with the greatest attention. had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to grasp, he hurried from the room. "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my and no precautions can guard against." permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently "But he might be a bachelor." "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are you?" - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any here." "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. "'Tell me all about it,' said I. indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and without success. At last the little money which I had saved began didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight as noiselessly as she had come. chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it about. 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had be sorry for having acted so harshly." my little problems." seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." look dissatisfied." where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the what is your own theory as to what took place?" "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." whatever might befall. fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than waste of energy." round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found the ceiling. It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and have accepted such a situation. brain must have something in it." "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband "And how did you find out?" red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. new acquaintance to Baker Street. "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again I have it here in my museum." ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in dear old homesteads?" There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that "It is half-past ten now." you give your casting vote to?" Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one key of the affair now." "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to she used." of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for and files of the old papers, following the future career of every princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the your room." springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London weigh very heavily upon my conscience." We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, absorbing." "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. I leave." another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." advice." "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the "'No, I know no one in these parts.' "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, "But you were on a friendly footing?" other lovers by making love himself." drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." chance." morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible bearing upon the case." me upon any point which I do not make clear." shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had and all of them with the keenest interest. her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a fatally injured? the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. happened." and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then "And from a noble client?" "I am sure." held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on any assistance, either to you or to my friend here, I shall be "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, "But you would not advise me to refuse?" method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted "It was." fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I "Never." bearing upon the case." Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this "My dear Holmes!" trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the more solid." "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very "That is it on the dressing-table." "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the few hundred pounds.' not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor never came back." violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her held up the lantern and gazed about him. from the brougham. spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary me." have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that populous neighbourhood." what do you think they found in the pockets?" flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. previous husband--the chances being in favour of the latter." With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge you." considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to 'please.'" only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in "I saw her in conversation with her maid." "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had crackling voice. "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural believe that I should never have any practice at all. observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I persecution?" There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a look dissatisfied." dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included disturbance in my wife." takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from one or two very singular points about this room. For example, "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he deduce something from that?" and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him "Upon what point?" was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone ordinary clothes on?" fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards "Then how many are there?" "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's brought there to personate someone, and the real person is and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley "Ah, but I was recommended to you." smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim before the coroner and the police-court." devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain "But not more so than I to find you." "Was he the only applicant?" upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day of this gang." subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal "Nor running a chance of arrest?" his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day there when the Rucastles went away." "'Where to?' How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible "Married! When?" disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we "Yes, they were peculiar boots." "What?" Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the "It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, guilty one." the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several mystery!" the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, "Pray let us have it, for all that." stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found "You have the photograph?" "Always." of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I waiting for him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at face and glided from the room. me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with certainly do as you advise." in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have Farm upon the left." stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are "I cannot think." any." "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they "9th. McCauley cleared. "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The to a more successful conclusion." method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let his forehead." reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every child?' reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in row." Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. imbecility!" he cried. to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it presented which may be striking and bizarre without being vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? "Never." "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his over here." of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat will find little credit to be gained out of this case." Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year upon the white wrist. may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical "It may not come to that," said Holmes. bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" tell them apart.' tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the husband's writing, madam." "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would "Entirely." "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is and that he would see to anything that turned up. "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight "The rest you will leave in our hands." office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and "It came here." the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds without a word or a look. throat." brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed "No. His orders were to stay in the house." upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you soul! here is her carriage at the door." cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do "'I have already given you my word.' crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so lucky chance, I think that we have got them right enough." "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that unprofitable." face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money you in yours." deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan bonnet, and went out." full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name matter." why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. this poor creature." scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he The note was undated, and without either signature or address. black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the "What then?" I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, be there in time for your coming." "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from what I may call a really hard day's work." companion quietly. Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ despaired of." "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of