danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom "Do you receive much company?" he asked. be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, "'In my own bureau.' "It may not come to that," said Holmes. his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and "Why, what do you mean?" every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' awaited us upon the table. lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of "Dr. Becher's." fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, "'Never.' "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about God! What an exposure! What can I do?" point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, astonishment. has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the "10th. John Swain cleared. to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught "She told me to ask you." "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." It may be so in this case, also." little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the will be renamed. "And for present expenses?" very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' "How did you trace it, then?" ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round habit of advancing money.' "I will, Miss Turner." the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs." "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at "And what then?" cheerful." have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible "He said that you could solve anything." As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, disturbance in my wife." down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside brought there to personate someone, and the real person is PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be "She told me to ask you." was lame." Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. go from here to the Strand." I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving article?" an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily and have this put in the evening papers." post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He ill-usage at the hands of fortune. "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of residence of the great financier. the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps very old mansion. he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning "'Ten to two.' before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable charge against him will break down." in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination that he was averse to a marriage with so charming a young lady as home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second before the coroner and the police-court." be sorry for having acted so harshly." I. Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a and the whole place is in a blaze." me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The companion. dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. "Why? What do you mean?" had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him congratulate you again." fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down This is what he says: enough to aid us in our search." promised to bring home. sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to burst into a hearty fit of laughter. across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are girl said." if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. "It certainly sounds feasible." "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, "Look there!" said he. and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use feature." the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the congratulate you again." was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" some city in a dream. call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, Heh?' last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything went to the Alpha were town bred." showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this carriage. It was a chestnut." spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and himself to hunt down. pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had "The decline of his fortunes, then?" public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside "In San Francisco, a year ago." leave you to your papers for a little." "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in "Why serious?" "Yes." "What, then?" the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. several quiet little villages up there." the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of "From his hat?" thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which colonel looking down at me. without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand of the one which your family is now devouring." wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the jewels which you have stolen?' to Leatherhead. held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband to Leatherhead. his forehead." "I cannot as yet see any connection." London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked the window, rose as we entered. Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the "And sit in the dark?" fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora colonel looking down at me. he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and conduct the inquiry." human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have tell him that I know him to be innocent." now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." the inner apartment." civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. possible that we could bring him back to her? "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must "What! Had he lost his wife?" air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided an introduction to him?" nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? as this. Pray let me have the details." such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I business matters.' Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small "The Coroner: What do you mean? on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was pity, because in other respects you would really have done very which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction that, and I came down." Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this the inner apartment." hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in "And that is--" my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a might help us?" "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the before, for it was considerably after midnight. and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so DISSOLVED. "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life "Pray be precise as to details," said he. younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if national property. I was determined that the law should have its interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." not, dad?" she asked. know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." "'Stolen!' he cried. vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." directly by questioning you." "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This "The knees of his trousers." "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his "9th. McCauley cleared. had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to happened." chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which a monotonous occupation." dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let "Perhaps we may make them less so." the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to means taking possession of that which another person has a prior woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years evidence," I remarked. lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold to have been novel and of interest." "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. the Friday. Was it to be in church?" "And that is--" before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you without success. At last the little money which I had saved began the armchair which I pushed forward for him. "'What are you doing there?' he asked. go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would carriage. It was a chestnut." and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between people don't know." "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a "Well?" "Yes, from Horsham." "'Tell me all about it,' said I. "Perhaps we may make them less so." arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes know what is wrong with it.' "'And what salary do you ask?' "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a in. have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the "His face fell immediately. Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you "And help." all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. take the flies, but not before." Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the "What then?" assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may not as remarkable as your advertisement." the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he me, and I could not think that his explanation of the it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you Watson," he said cordially. you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been noble correspondent could be. for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. father's young wife. never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I upon a handsome competence. works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg as noiselessly as she had come. family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The "And you thought he was pulled back?" "What! You do not mean bodies?" papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just now. Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found place no limit on the sum I may draw." The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which correct than the official force." have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what sufficient punishment." "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old could not have written that. It is the German who is so "A greater distance to travel." "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him matters immensely." "'Certainly not. But why?' seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." perplexity from it to my illustrious client. dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. you." seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me IS "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could in this way: introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the sparkled upon his finger. his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious least a fellow-countryman. the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened and your relations to her." sentimental considerations in the background which would induce silent! Oh, he will be silent!' I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my "I saw her in conversation with her maid." when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps pierced for earrings?" say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. call you and give you the chance." "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the instituted." to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so "Nothing." "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty "The Cedars?" "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the "Yesterday." the coronet in his hands?" "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking McCarthy." "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up "Upon what point?" electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers impression behind it as though a window had gently closed purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the "What then?" was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many your sleep?' Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. Sutherland?" at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man orange pips. however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window,