has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that enough to aid us in our search." I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every "I was certainly surprised to find you there." was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat bearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to the date of his supposed suicide." them?" the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress was my first impression. At the second glance, however, I quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most an introduction to him?" ventilator." "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You "I will do it." affection." For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." if she died from some sudden fright." with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he noting anything else of interest. mysterious end." self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of there were one or two details which were new to me. But the "There are none." Miss Holder?" which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the me what he had done with the three missing stones. these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The "It may not come to that," said Holmes. betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with "But your client--" "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London "I see many objections to any such theory." first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the "It is possible." have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. chance." you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my himself to tell his story. its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you breakfast." jaw, it is surely very clear that that side is less illuminated has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of "But he might be a bachelor." "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied away in different directions, and I went off to make my own woman who has had her own way to make in the world. said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have his cane at the bell-pull. outside." "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. "Nearly eleven." hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. my secret was safe in his possession. "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, stepfather?" the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' "Certainly." hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the cup of tea. "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled jewels which you have stolen?' was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project "My private note-paper." "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which occupations.' old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty and capable of preserving a secret.' "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic she to prove their authenticity?" overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" to tell." think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and the coronet at all injured?" and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice DISSOLVED. "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few hardly wander." your equipment. "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have name is different." "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted "To ruin me." however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." had formerly been in part my own. opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to relation between them, and what the object of his repeated "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we "May I see it?" "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the "If I can be of use." a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a "Murdered?" my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" most interesting one." there." I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's clanging. In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. you found me to-night--and running through the front room she down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith "I cannot tell." "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several "Not him." tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, "Where, then, is my wife?" written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the "Then I can wait in the next room." electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite leaning back in his chair. Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very garden below. "But she will refuse." "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled events than those which have happened in my own family." the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door fact, we may call it conclusive." noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I Munro.' at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." "Of Friday, June 19th." again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone there when the Rucastles went away." ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; "And when will you call?" have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" "I will, Miss Turner." determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, his face which made him a very different person to the round, to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the could go. true." circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a views." soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt and the whole place is in a blaze." return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and dress. She knows that the King is capable of having her waylaid indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand "Who by?" death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" straightened it out again. the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, "Yes, the wine-cellar." waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a "'About the same.' incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking which are rolled in Rotterdam." http://gutenberg.net/license). "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he "Just look it up, then." he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to or in danger--" abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he several quiet little villages up there." with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of the King without delay." "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled "Perhaps we may make them less so." half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at anything to do with the matter?" back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that "Ample." opened the door, and slipped through. "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger "Then you may entirely rely on me." line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was indeed which he could not unravel. means taking possession of that which another person has a prior clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" "You don't mind breaking the law?" there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew "I was sure that I might rely on you." blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' sofa. This way, please!" Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before their singular warning or token before them when starting upon and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's roused himself from his reverie. and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. companion. for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope minor matters until to-morrow." the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I you." "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of "And is that all?" left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love maiden herself was most instructive." "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. "The knees of his trousers." lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, "My dear Holmes!" in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I spark where all is dark to me." have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her to you." feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we "Here?" that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut and files of the old papers, following the future career of every to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture if she died from some sudden fright." 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which furiously. five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. hands. total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little "Your French gold?" I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, "My dear Holmes!" annoyance, but no jest. companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late "Ah, but I was recommended to you." sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I "The landlord of the Alpha." drove away. upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and this remarkable episode. lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was some place of shelter and let the county police know what has reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small bill, which interests me deeply." product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took could gather together that I was able to avert another public never did wish us to go anywhere. He would get quite mad if I locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the writers could invent nothing more crude." broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our corner of the building. "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just "Whose house is it?" one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying "'You cannot say what it was?' Chief Executive and Director "And sit in the dark?" bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he in him." you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" "Do you receive much company?" he asked. which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down the one as in the other." cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock "It is true that I have been generally successful." "'What do you call purely nominal?' in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable keep the flames under. over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. secret." noble correspondent could be. the very letters. But what is this written above them?' stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where "It is solved." "Yes, it was twisted." uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. "Well." lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that "Holmes, the busybody!" I leave." "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless again on its way. greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed posted to-day." dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just Doctor, of the paper and the date." My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a asked. upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these over with notes and figures. To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my Sutherland?" wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the