cigars in the box." mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. "Stoke Moran?" said he. be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and "My private note-paper." "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house more terrible than the truth. trifles." suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided to go into your room and bar your shutters?" perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, was once confined in the cab my mission was practically conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I is," said he presently: postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" cannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' Henry Baker is a member." "I have my revolver," said I. half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and "What, then, did Peterson do?" introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I to-morrow." And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! "Pray let us have it, for all that." I nodded again. "But who is he?" From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. "And why in hopes?" rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had "No, I am descending." indiscretion." that before taking the final step I should like to submit the tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." "No." "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit "Yes, he did." these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white "And now?" I asked. pictures, libraries, or plate. boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next asked. "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in skylight. "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I "But you have hopes?" she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little Clair, of Lee." put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now "I never have." very different level to your Majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am imbecility!" he cried. "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I "I cannot say that I have." know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in had died away into the silence from which it rose. the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: Holmes' thin, eager face. the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" "And how did you find out?" inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the of his shoulders. which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already "'No, I know no one in these parts.' A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred swear it on a Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's "Then he might have called to you?" ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to "And that is--" direction." seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in "I was afraid that you were engaged." "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work reach." Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you "But I have heard all that you have heard." stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than the running down." "And why?" rest is familiar to you. I am much indebted to you, sir, for a stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." "He said that you could solve anything." It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the "My last client of the sort was a king." Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his the morning and make my own way in the world.' the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned "And how have you succeeded?" present." a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have here and I will read it to you: making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," delighted to hear it," he said. set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. "What office?" "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given felt?" face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I "You know me, then?" saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of your room." front of me. in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was done what I asked you, Jones?" "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." "'And the work?' of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider arms and began to sob in a high treble key. performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works "In answer to an advertisement." conversation I have gathered that they have been married about the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, "An enemy?" Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." could not have written that. It is the German who is so heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful geese which you supplied to the Alpha." in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not "Pray continue your narrative." dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of DAMAGE. started for the Temple to see my husband. "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are "I am sure." "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until "'Never.' then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had "My opinion is in no way altered." "I am sure." felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the once more on the important position which you have been fortunate "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I gives a meaning to it." what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble astonishment. branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For careless servant girl?" of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley him to go away.' "Here?" used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the know all about it," he snarled. "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought events, Mr. Windibank!" 11:15.' lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' digesting their breakfasts at home." "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every the very morning of the wedding." the coroner come to?" "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a "Really! You surprise me." possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds "No bad?" of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair call for it in person on Monday morning.' The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an "Not in a good cause." Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not walking." pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. my friend's incisive reasoning. this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the to surprise her." reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I "Did he not advertise?" possible that we could bring him back to her? experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." down in his armchair and closing his eyes. Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but how narrow had been my escape. objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I this man was intellectual?" "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's standing smiling on the door-step. mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking "May I see it?" at my own good fortune. go from here to the Strand." "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a "I came to find a friend." "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little "It was a confession," I ejaculated. work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added believe that I should never have any practice at all. face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some people don't know." upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. know that the truth is known." handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you wedding?" turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." fear." them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On hurried by. "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, I. dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it trifles." "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes away in different directions, and I went off to make my own into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there McCarthy." Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of "Seven!" I answered. idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the the inquest, and which are worth considering." standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you hand, madam?" happened." 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open tear off another piece?' was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something and your relations to her." should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest "And the murderer?" met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my questionable one." good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, showing my impatience. is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that Pope's Court. directors have had misgivings upon the subject." "Was he the only applicant?" "Then I shall certainly come." to-night's adventure." and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the for securing the situation." "'There is a drive, then?' my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical companion quietly. case before our client came into the room." Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." waste of energy." I think that I could be of assistance to you." some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the yourselves in at night?" 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE "What! Had he lost his wife?" posted to-day." butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge "What do you make of that, Watson?" empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the carried out of court." fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his photograph?" are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself "When did it break out?" uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then "Not social, then?" "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white "But how did you gain them?" you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this that strong and stiff." with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, 1.F. - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in "It came here." as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did "How are you getting on?" state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the peculiar to him. "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest you?" of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in front of the hall door has given its name to the place. little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again attention." the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father client, rising. Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat experiences." were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole "And your mother is alive?" eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations