whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. friends, not even his own brother. "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings corner of the building. red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to back alive. window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, directors, with the result that you have seen." chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same neither fascinating nor artistic." course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no fait accompli?" yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this Sutherland?" "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less "What, then?" "It must be recovered." "How are you getting on?" "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her "Married! When?" and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have "We have tried and failed." an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' "And how did he make his money?" Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this man. to-night." wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then "Not in a good cause." confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for "'And the work?' had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the In this way you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of an few hundred pounds.' Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez his wife has ceased to love him." where Mr. Fordham shows you.' "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful "It may not come to that," said Holmes. article?" doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client galvanised. lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that the house with me." unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, gone. "No. What a strange idea!" my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know "I cannot say that I have." tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any one of them." "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, whereabouts. then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every humiliation." have one." "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet mystery!" would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which might have a private word with us. you do it in twenty minutes!' and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have his fortune, and I went back to pa. unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that all-comprehensive glances. reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner "Was he the only applicant?" I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps at my remark. stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which grasp, he hurried from the room. the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the again, where I was soon asleep. "I am still in the dark." prove to be little relation between the different incidents of "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she arms and began to sob in a high treble key. little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how must be when I saw the door open.' pound a week." metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted easy-going way." leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen. "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said an introduction to him?" propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the "Two days later this same performance was gone through under lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered License. You must require such a user to return or slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all "Not yet." the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just now. very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my "Ten will be early enough." "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, "Yes, they were peculiar boots." "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very troubles have been weighing upon his mind. no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, weigh very heavily upon my conscience." It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little fire. You quite follow me?" or in danger--" something of him before." "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I "But you can know nothing of this?" as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the and files of the old papers, following the future career of every air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a opened a pocket-book and took out a note. that?' Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left careless servant girl?" your billet.' said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of cigars in their mouths. the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous to have that photograph." "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and "But we can't all be." consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it crime. unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop woven round him. the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly "What of the rat, then?" smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country right! Sit down and let us talk it over." bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always Heh?' passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of you in your example." out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. "And help." "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears and looked back. disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" business matters.' Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I "Well?" official police." "'Yes.' "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." noise which awoke you from your sleep?" what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, writer." "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did not fit the lock." his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a like gravel from a pit.' having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his gigantic client. sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman directly by questioning you." bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and kindly on the shoulder. St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he fishes. indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a and looked back. Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another the Friday. Was it to be in church?" fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a "'Yes.' though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." happened." was it brought him the coronet? narrative." and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. business matters.' "'And what salary do you ask?' have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the the warnings." from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either of the one which your family is now devouring." her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his habit of advancing money.' tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." "'Tell me all about it,' said I. trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his in him." laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your You want to know what became of those geese?" gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with "None." whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to carriage. It was a chestnut." "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us the driver. Young McCarthy must be got off, however." "Yes, only one." and prosperity to your house. Good-night." very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church bird I ate is country bred." although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three you came in." agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what that he was averse to a marriage with so charming a young lady as "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, hour?' in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than about here speaks of his kindness to him." homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a or in danger--" which I could not give. He asked for Alice. the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a questionable one." downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you and shall probably return to London by the evening train." within hail.' copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." "Then, as to money?" that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded waste of energy." "Was he the only applicant?" "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" any." "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation strong and stiff." drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line shall use the carriage to-night." the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom the so-precious time, but come!' while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left enter into my head. had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small enter Dr. Roylott's room." done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled "No bad?" that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. weigh very heavily upon my conscience." with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and be there in time for your coming." note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he had no one to advise her at such a crisis." steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which drawing your inferences." qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." "Imitated." these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." "I see many objections to any such theory." relation between them, and what the object of his repeated three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I Surrey." is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every "Yes, only one." and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several manager. "Oh, the cause is excellent!" the warnings." had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his them present such singular features as the strange train of "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for "And how did he make his money?" souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind ourselves in the office." 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I States. from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that woman who has had her own way to make in the world. collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. late!' 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the "You think that he is dead?" "To an English lawyer named Norton." fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken weapon." glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached knowledge of the world." chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is The telegram which we eventually received came late one night Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three "I say it is." I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your that I am arrested." would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning I nodded again. three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before question," said Holmes, smiling. at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few