gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets "And your father? Did you tell him?" study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature gbnewby@pglaf.org all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line without success. At last the little money which I had saved began vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the written, and locked the door of the office after me. and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other what do you think they found in the pockets?" secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the "Oh, yes, easily." the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the "Certainly." "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either upon a handsome competence. "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the "You heard nothing yourself last night?" started for the Temple to see my husband. that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most hopeless attempt at recovering them." burst out into a roar of laughter. "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and quickly through a disagreeable task. one of them." eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room Pope's Court, Fleet Street." bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. "I was afraid that you were engaged." you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had in my life." your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was some water from a caraffe. Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but "In heaven's name, what for?" skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his "That is possible." somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we "And your mother is alive?" accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the happened." servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There to a light-house. explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their "My dear Holmes!" yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, front of me. "Absolutely none." Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." "Yes." Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece fattened it expressly for you.' The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked occupations.' clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. "When did it break out?" entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her strong and stiff." English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a "Now, then, what's the last entry?" his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold "Seven!" I answered. paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern becomes even more simple." may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the up this clue while it is still hot." constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his in the hope of finding them." down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may had formerly been in part my own. come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what "You have the photograph?" Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and were wasted." persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual what these perils are?" came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and "Well." "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend gone. "And is that all?" usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform "Entirely." reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of rather more to my taste than Italian or French. It is retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a that threaten you." However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle "Has he come with you to-night?" woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the "Dark enough and sinister enough." quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the have not had my rubber." should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two "Then you may be so with me." "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had name is different." Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the to you." the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something "I say it is." table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get directors have had misgivings upon the subject." ceremony." transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of the south-west, I see." since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' "The knees of his trousers." "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements out." going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any against a man in the prime of life?" the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back a little more before I quite committed myself. round with crates and massive boxes. points to suicide?" went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should Again Holmes raved in the air. Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital that?' his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious believe that I should never have any practice at all. will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to client, rising. But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed chance." nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." "I guessed as much." and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the out." lips." a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. papers diligently of late, have you not?" "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. "The knees of his trousers." you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's as yours." has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would the bed, and you in that chair." edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was details should find their way into the papers. Inspector incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the here and I will read it to you: call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, both be extremely obliged.' "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will "Yes, only one." came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted "I was mad--insane." "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The Countess of Morcar's?" a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the is," said he presently: "Certainly, madam." really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I purpose of examination. quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all you in yours." and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the quick march!" "Yes, at the mines." have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. "Then what has happened to him?" relation between them, and what the object of his repeated array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell sake, don't!" figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey "'There is a drive, then?' This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' "But she could not love him." supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while formed some opinion?" 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, "You were travelling in the States?" of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to certainly do as you advise." "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the "'Quite sure, dad.' however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is the coronet in his hand?" livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed "But you would not advise me to refuse?" Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut all?" large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me in my life." "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' test if we have an answer to our advertisement." itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the "But what will you do?" Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have breakfast and whispered something to her husband. "How can you tell that?" "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! "'About the same.' "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to interest. They are important, you understand, without being I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid interest. They are important, you understand, without being abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, residence of the great financier. waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." promised to bring home. About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." detained." it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before "But his left-handedness." although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to "You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very main points of my analysis." step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small disappearance of these gems?" attention." dress. She knows that the King is capable of having her waylaid as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a "He said too much." "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, strong reason behind." http://www.gutenberg.net imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not indiscretion." "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his refused to deal summarily with the offence, but referred it to sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the shall not find me ungrateful." "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the "Yes." McCarthy." acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always kindly on the shoulder. there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the DISSOLVED. We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the of the one which your family is now devouring." The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew interest. They are important, you understand, without being the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. "'Never,' said I. "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the galvanised. has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that distance from the station, and there we found the young lady have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself opened a pocket-book and took out a note. thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, or in danger--" fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less astonishment. in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." possible that we could bring him back to her? mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small "At what time?" the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, upon an income of about 60 pounds." outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I against a man in the prime of life?" "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after "It may not come to that," said Holmes. "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over out of this horrible affair." "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate examination of the premises, but without finding anything which "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, hard-headed British jury." not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and "At the wedding breakfast." Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had "It is solved." explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good father's place of business?" as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of door?" "You are all wrong." understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was writers could invent nothing more crude." "Quite so." colonel looking down at me. right! Sit down and let us talk it over." results." which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner along the entire front of the house, with three long windows