We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the them?" clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. system of imprisonment?" the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did you do it in twenty minutes!' heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. you want, then?' most important business. It is probable that he will be away all "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and shall not find me ungrateful." she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I with frightened eyes at his accuser. it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an on re-entering her father's house?" children over to America with him, so that I found myself without it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the woman who has had her own way to make in the world. there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both how narrow had been my escape. brandy and water within his reach. do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, the dangers which encompass me." "None. Neville wrote those words." "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. what these perils are?" "Then I shall certainly come." blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office "That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter. them, and came down just as you departed. about. "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming me. You must get home instantly and act." "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was of receipt of the work. dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible "VIOLET HUNTER." pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining helping a boy to put up the shutters. "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The the matter." last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to My friend smiled. "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' have one." coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was "The knees of his trousers." official police, but it is not pleasant to have a family "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss coroner's jury." Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." "'Yes, sir.' they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me fashion which was peculiar to him. way in everything. am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about floor. premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and light and attacked it." bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed for the market.' Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall suddenly upon us." "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The charged with?" "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" children over to America with him, so that I found myself without she has been waylaid. There has been no result." beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project straighten it?" a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed least a most suspicious remark." not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the "What can you not understand?" At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had "In the cells." excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled "And when will you call?" "'What then?' I asked. the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up "Because he was handy and would come cheap." "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, you in yours." the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had "Yes, he did." not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall stepfather?" "And Miss Sutherland?" "Where did you address your letters, then?" secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away populous neighbourhood." his grey eyes. studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the was not a bird to be seen there. the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and "At the wedding breakfast." address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign memory. "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would Henry Baker is a member." sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the centre, on which several German books were scattered. Colonel eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. "I have a cab outside." here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with "My photograph." a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, absolutely follow my advice in every respect." make me his representative both with the servants and with the seven miles from Eyford Station.' my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it question," said Holmes, smiling. Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this brain must have something in it." he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can troubles have been weighing upon his mind. way: light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." or in danger--" "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your "'Stolen!' he cried. and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of "I assure you that I am in your hands." the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large "On Monday." my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden "He might." address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." as he remarks, very much against the son." this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I out." faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a redistribution. which our visitor detailed to us. which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in photograph?" laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible country, and eventually married, without anyone having a where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that "I will try. What is it?" detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be for securing the situation." and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson "Where did he live, then?" "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." that he has suffered." comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience and glanced through. The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now "Did he not advertise?" assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning The telegram which we eventually received came late one night "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our "You did not overhear what they said?" blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very "Did your wife hear all this?" its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, relation between them, and what the object of his repeated "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you fattened it expressly for you.' seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man. His "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been him and tried to hold him back. when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is conceal it?" keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six everything which you would wish to know." five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" your own bird, so if you wish--" went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found "Pray tell us what has happened to you." his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel writing, and yet I know it well." "Proceed, then." last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of hurried by. I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, light and attacked it." I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" forebodings. protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the and capable of preserving a secret.' town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." papers diligently of late, have you not?" "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" shoulder; "he's all right." at home. reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but "I think it very unlikely." air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing "What!" he roared. "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the prison!" "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. "Was she in good spirits?" had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a hereditary King of Bohemia." think that any burglar could have done. look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all are, and they are waiting for us." can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped Watson," he said cordially. His name is Francis Prosper." of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," to me. propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat the coronet in his hand?" To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or to tell." which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, my special province." step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving will be renamed. Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide locked." jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is for securing the situation." it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was noble correspondent could be. pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at recover the gem." after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple "No. What a strange idea!" it with his own hands." armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a "No." inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that she used." a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, "Yes." the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would "And your mother is alive?" scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. "I guessed as much." not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up "I warn you that they are very incomplete." "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and pressing in one house as in another. Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather really the only notable feature about the thing." All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us "I was mad--insane." silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet the dangers which encompass me." and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar of the vacancies.' never did wish us to go anywhere. He would get quite mad if I maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal "Of what day?" bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a vault. the Friday. Was it to be in church?" five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely "Not social, then?" cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' fait accompli?" him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than head. So long, then!" since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the the running down." carried out of court." the ceiling. step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the "Yes." great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came memory. akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and "Yes, from Horsham." "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough "Will you go?" all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should mystery." marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from vault. having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very that suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the door?" threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent it means?" Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, the dangers which encompass me." "Certainly." "Then, for God's sake, what was this dark business which was tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman was the fact that his father should, according to his account, I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering Lestrade of Scotland Yard." "And your mother is alive?" propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime."