"'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would should be taken.' eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered was used.' of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the "I could hardly believe my ears. As you may observe, Mr. Holmes, I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine detective. comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by furiously. "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, bedroom door." "Not yet." that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to maiden herself was most instructive." had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and Dr. Gregory B. Newby for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he these bleak autumnal evenings." "Did you observe the colour?" "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have to affect your life." "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held "That sounds a little paradoxical." you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for crackling voice. if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" "Not yet." "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of man. "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite lost nothing by them." understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of down. "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight "One?" that I may have something better before very many minutes are is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied. where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose with some details as to your case." to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where because she had spent so short a time in this country that she Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this the night.' reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a vault. which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught perplexity from it to my illustrious client. of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no night.' said he. of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them 1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us companion imperturbably. All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, "Your French gold?" customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case "Could he throw no light?" deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was outbreak?" with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and clanging. on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City "No." worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But "'Tell me all about it,' said I. newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now nonsense.' once more for Briony Lodge. husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right "What is it, then--a fire?" had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his completely overtopped every other consideration that we both and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the his eyes and forehead. clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding all-comprehensive glances. SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, thought that she would have been so carried away." bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from "Yes." very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant better in every way that they should make their position a little "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to keep the flames under. to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is of Gold, in Upper Swandam Lane. But what was she to do? How could conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, passage and a tap at the door. the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the for the market.' "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all "But it has twice been burgled." and your relations to her." the Red-headed League." window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. "Tired-looking or fresh?" "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy not within a twentieth part of the market price." certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as must compliment you." "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or imbecility!" he cried. sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken "So I heard. You have him here?" then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of singular points about the case. What did the police think of the into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just he bowed and left the room without another word. Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on unprofitable." of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen. through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" little trying to do so much typewriting?" than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my tassel actually lying upon the pillow. "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; crowd. outside." and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than married her." black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left sooner or later she must fall a victim. "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the of the way of danger. in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told "No, finished." blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which you in your example." "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," "Witness: I must still refuse. "Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through which should have the effect of calling the attention of the "She walked into the breakfast-room." could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 leave you to your papers for a little." his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." that he was averse to a marriage with so charming a young lady as the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will "It is solved." hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. undoubtedly my uncle's." and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a own family. handed it to him. with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," pressing in one house as in another. "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' "Certainly." himself in a perplexing position. where she found matters as described by the last witness. at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of threw himself down with his face to the pillow. you in your example." "You'll never persuade me to believe that." now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out 1.F. "Yes, they were peculiar boots." finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my matter over." "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp that the gas is not laid on in his house?" stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' "How do you know, then?" "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper place of silver." "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had dead, shall be safe with us." work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even became a certainty. permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification of." mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's "'I am sure that I do not know.' invisible to me," I remarked. puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be 1.E.9. the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more detained." "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes the house with me." idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, at a side door. was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which with frightened eyes at his accuser. "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, manager. of Gold, in Upper Swandam Lane. But what was she to do? How could "A call for help, you thought?" "You have a clue?" interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the possible that we could bring him back to her? that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie to-morrow." my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no "The Coroner: What do you mean? "Not him." to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these this man was intellectual?" some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. other means.' should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more looking up at the numbers of the houses." Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and "And how did you find out?" you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who "But not more so than I to find you." empty. "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and "VIOLET HUNTER." out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with me, and I could not think that his explanation of the the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the "'You doubt its value?' he asked. the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed ready to-morrow?' deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past "We must sit without light. He would see it through the darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon "Pray continue your narrative." time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of outside. suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I anything to a woman, for she would have her way." "What is it, then--a fire?" "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small "But we can't all be." "I should be immensely obliged to you." "Precisely." "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to only touch the interest." wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and was a perfect sample of the class. She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home his knees, staring into the fire. upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell "Oh, fresh and glossy." "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking fasten all the windows?" put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." disappearance of these gems?" the south-west, I see." "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going than does the smiling and beautiful countryside."