resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some back alive. black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which "An enemy?" it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search "Upon what point?" opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle will take you up to see the machine.' into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this "On your arm?" colonel looking down at me. if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and very morning of my second wedding." by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they "My own seal." believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I the coroner come to?" following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be "Quite so. She has her freedom." while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those not within a twentieth part of the market price." observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from American. Then who could this American be, and why should he I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this "I will do it." "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was wife's character?" and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked "How did you trace it, then?" The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the character. "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs. confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the Edgeware Road. "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. "Breckinridge is his name." which I could not give. He asked for Alice. upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and instincts rose up against that laugh. "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' "To an English lawyer named Norton." weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked "She showed me, as I told you she would." populous neighbourhood." it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may my special province." vanished into the darkness. increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George fatally injured? in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings "You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of "Yes." upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE "'You cannot say what it was?' "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of upon the white wrist. untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is yards of it?' "My photograph." clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in interested in these little problems, and since you are good face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" of the efforts of the United States government and of the better "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both "And Miss Sutherland?" "Yes, it was twisted." inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would "Was there a secret marriage?" whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock troubles have been weighing upon his mind. during that time.' Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter into the bag, and made for the door. dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and and shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint and safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which she to prove their authenticity?" little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to your most interesting statement." this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his "Precisely." eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle him." "And from a noble client?" "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front important." wedding?" Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. any." the salesman. "'Is purely nominal.' 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the cost them two and thirty pounds." expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said "No, I think that I'll take it." Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never upon a handsome competence. vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his the City, did some shopping, proceeded to the company's office, "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which "Always." "It goes to the housekeeper's room." "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully companion. "Stolen, then." Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest "Yes." "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." to affect your life." "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped main points of my analysis." o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have "I could hardly believe my ears. As you may observe, Mr. Holmes, quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them money should be paid at once.' "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall "Not particularly." looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a to take care of herself." hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious yards of it?' "Really! You surprise me." results." "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. could go. which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" "And Miss Sutherland?" everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." Have you good authority for what you say?" have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true gone. "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, "Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good disappearance of these gems?" evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they go--none." vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for threw himself down with his face to the pillow. to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a everything which you would wish to know." "'Which dealer's?' Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that God! What an exposure! What can I do?" "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped politicians who had been sent down from the North. tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who morning." transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress "'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which desk. confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the trifles." behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." Pope's Court, Fleet Street." and the church but not where the lady lived." very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round woven round him. Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out "And how did you verify them?" when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to the very letters. But what is this written above them?' dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and "So it appears." http://gutenberg.net/license). "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out said I. impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To that you wished to speak to me?' straighten it?" about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his money should be paid at once.' "Really! You surprise me." research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing became a certainty. "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the be. nights." into her hand at the door and which lured her within their was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year question," said Holmes, smiling. building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole "One of the highest in England." have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive invisible to me," I remarked. and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant without a word or a look. "What do you mean?" "I warn you that they are very incomplete." chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and "Absolutely?" "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this "I shall most certainly do so." relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean "Pray do so." and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing "Nothing?" ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from go back?" Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, "I have come for advice." depend upon my doing so.' Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was appeal." My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been "How did you deduce the select?" your co-operation." after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the "'It is locked up,' I answered. of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. "I am to be neutral?" have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive is a common subject for conversation. The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than purpose of examination. after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that "Who by?" and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." right! Sit down and let us talk it over." "Pray let us have it, for all that." British barque "Sophy Anderson", of the singular adventures of the order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no ashen face. which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a "I am armed." will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' as noiselessly as she had come. beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of in. the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just now. "'I shall certainly be there.' there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no that you wished to speak to me?' what do you think they found in the pockets?" and inquire as to the address." "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew "Deserted you?" 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before shaken than I had ever seen him. front of me. Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, "Yesterday." have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug looking up at the numbers of the houses." together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know chemical work which was so dear to him. "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me them?" o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the "Yes." In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. absorbing." propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' upon the white wrist. sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the "I have come for advice." "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned made his money." sufficient punishment." zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, paper in the air. he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and "One of his hands." ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one everything which you would wish to know." in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and "Quite so." vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said his eyes and forehead. and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that I think that I could be of assistance to you." and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. over with notes and figures. utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in case before our client came into the room." lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in notes," he said. bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy that I can to serve you." photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook "And why?" frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his it? Did I buy the geese off you?" now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." "Who by?" Young McCarthy must be got off, however." shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him had listened with the greatest concentration of attention.