"Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect papers." It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? one or two very singular points about this room. For example, The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," "Well?" in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what "I would pay ten." test if we have an answer to our advertisement." clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my "No, I think that I'll take it." platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." go from here to the Strand." these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is "I see many objections to any such theory." travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I think that he is innocent?" you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: girl said." train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for something of him before." you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be "Why did you pick him?" Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love "'No, I know no one in these parts.' say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper "No, finished." "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" centre, on which several German books were scattered. Colonel them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, "But you would not advise me to refuse?" "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit thought that she would have been so carried away." business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. "In the cells." Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in mysterious business." that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in to his chemical studies. "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small corner of the building. "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his ashen face. "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that national property. I was determined that the law should have its upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." "'Stolen!' he cried. "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in "We must sit without light. He would see it through the 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and next day. so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between the dangers which encompass me." "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as is worth.' helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had "Bought." second window is the one that I jumped from." "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found John Swain, of St. Augustine. own family. companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill Have you good authority for what you say?" paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, "I cannot imagine." met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." enough to aid us in our search." experiences." laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism gigantic client. "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in for securing the situation." "So I have heard." letters?" "Yes." "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend "I am all attention, madam." "But your client--" the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to society." gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand the running down." charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of the iron safe, which he closed upon it. at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." the Red-headed League." "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was everything which you would wish to know." along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of examine." "Then the page we have seen--" through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a best detective that ever lived. last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting are, I think, all that we need." "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his money should be paid at once.' in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her bill, which interests me deeply." to me. "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her at my own good fortune. either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." back into the street. jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be frequently gained my first real insight into the character of "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all question," said Holmes, smiling. "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home "I think that I had better go, Holmes." casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of forehead. advice." least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She "I have a cab outside." man. I know him from the photograph." recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. possible that we could bring him back to her? there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and http://gutenberg.net/license). "Then I am your man." "'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to of Mr. Rucastle's." course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you "What of the rat, then?" "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My ago." moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't Pope's Court, Fleet Street." there has been an enclosure here!" "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three "The decline of his fortunes, then?" lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied. Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the and inquire as to the address." "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it "I am following you closely," I answered. regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your companion. The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a intimate personal affairs in this public manner." serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular "I cannot imagine." the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been of it with the greatest attention. breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her undoubtedly my uncle's." "'In my own bureau.' it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other "It is half-past ten now." paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and about. The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE it." "It's nothing of the kind." drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards "I cannot say that I have." contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, since then to throw any light upon what became of him." Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant depend upon your compliance." "Nothing." favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I "So it appears." of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that I held the little printed slip to the light. "Then I can wait in the next room." train.' man. I know him from the photograph." "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she Holmes' thin, eager face. common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope "And did you observe any change in her then?" roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." "Will you go?" "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out already been minutely examined." "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our morning." "The decline of his fortunes, then?" refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she "No sign of it?" tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly tail." red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case "I think that it is very probable." window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the bird I ate is country bred." do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack "Yes." read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think "Dark enough and sinister enough." "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so you, my dear young lady?' leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at the bed, and you in that chair." certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after "Have you it here?" perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: "That is possible." speckled band?" it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see "And Irene Adler?" "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had "Very. But will he see it?" that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold other means.' this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you fell over into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but the knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely closing the door. "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and views." grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. developed." case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This I held the little printed slip to the light. my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well had picked up in the wood. "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. papers." The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and I nodded again. way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and "What is it?" I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was third from London." "But how?" previous husband--the chances being in favour of the latter." James Windibank. Voilà tout!" I leave." that, and I came down." my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of you." outbreak?" into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this will be renamed. young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of not as remarkable as your advertisement." gone. its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed present." that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see touch that coronet?' "I am in hopes that she does." planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I "Come in!" said Holmes. a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting name is different." you, my dear young lady?' know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his "Will you go?" "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the "You are hungry," I remarked. would apply.' Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. chance at all." uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." the house with me." Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the "Who was the criminal, then?" "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," pity, because in other respects you would really have done very "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." American. Then who could this American be, and why should he us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a