away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE "'Certainly,' I answered. the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, "Yes, sir." particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during "Has he come with you to-night?" chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over for and were ordered to this address. in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let child?' "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he during that time.' conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by some water from a caraffe. look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two one's self under obligations.' George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. Sholtos." to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the seem to you to be relevant or not." grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an a suggestive one." there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, narrative." footfalls from the street. robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high examine." opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother down. "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons "And now?" He raised his hand. do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl "Your presence might be invaluable." "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before Young McCarthy must be got off, however." case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from his face. Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." did not hear it also.' utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must presented which may be striking and bizarre without being have got?" the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do waiting for him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather was my first impression. At the second glance, however, I Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this main points of my analysis." cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was new duties?' round with crates and massive boxes. total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little "But she will refuse." my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. "The best possible." "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with pierced for earrings?" make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: think you a quite exceptional woman." located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot standing smiling on the door-step. "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the present." next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see easy-going way." of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, may have an influence upon European history." money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he husband's writing, madam." "And how did you find out?" brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this did not hear it also.' reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study habit of advancing money.' smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his any more." "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." absorbing." something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took society." "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the "'Yes, sir.' metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you "'Most admirably.' in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need sound at heart." and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock look dissatisfied." increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be presented which may be striking and bizarre without being But Holmes shook his head gravely. sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the "I never have." "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' about here speaks of his kindness to him." "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, "But to whom?" with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the lids now and glanced across at his visitor. memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried be. through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands business." flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad have got?" to take care of herself." listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal trifles." workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the my secret was safe in his possession. I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would 'please.'" "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for any little problem which you may submit to me." X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a "That sounds a little paradoxical." important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but your equipment. friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but there when the Rucastles went away." "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable "But the mystery?" "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by go back?" thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers must be when I saw the door open.' so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes front of me. believe that I should never have any practice at all. looking up at the numbers of the houses." the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have that, and I came down." far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place straighten it?" the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. "You horrify me!" fatally injured? the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple "I should like to see him very much." opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, wedding?" laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the of this gang." My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and some terrible trap for her." sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny way: excitement. "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its if she died from some sudden fright." Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. the tragedy. Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm "'Is purely nominal.' great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's conversation I have gathered that they have been married about to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 again." "Then you may be so with me." tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." stalked out of the room. "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." the coroner come to?" first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. my foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." "You are hungry," I remarked. "And what did you learn from him?" "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting "Nothing." doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I closing the door. he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the "My own seal." about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I just called myself is not exactly my own." Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle of his shoulders. "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. voice. was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the bare slabs of marble. Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue "Indeed, Doctor," said Holmes blandly. "Pray take a seat." (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into "We have tried and failed." He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the formed some opinion?" written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the happened." single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly place no limit on the sum I may draw." that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." call it cruel." away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." promised to bring home. you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" chambers. without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. companion. Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see intrusion of other matters." we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes." before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the "My own seal." because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from tightly behind him. accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. about here speaks of his kindness to him." shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, "Well, it is a possible supposition." their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She James Windibank. Voilà tout!" "How do you know, then?" without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. "How do you know, then?" "That is it on the dressing-table." yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this deduce something from that?" records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who examination of the premises, but without finding anything which situation." adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his "But what harm can there be in that?" Young McCarthy must be got off, however." He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in details." copied or distributed: to his chemical studies. little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I over with notes and figures. London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were detained." through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. villagers almost as much as their master. or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward observed. Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or acquaintance?" the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some been." "And what did you learn from him?" "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his miles off. customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, point in the dark hollow of his hand. over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and "Yes, that is the Crown." "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to "And what did you learn from him?" "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own "Well, some hundreds of times." office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then said he. the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to "Not in a good cause." "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a closely." finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather "But how could you guess what the motive was?" had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of "I answered that I had not. contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. "Why did you beat the pavement?" opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes felt?" "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a "But what is it you wish?" "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. Surrey." fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, bonnet, and went out." which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless photograph?" attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. more terrible than the truth. at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the again before evening." on re-entering her father's house?" As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. "Now, then, what's the last entry?" key turn in the lock." "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, 'I should be able to look after that for you.' there has been an enclosure here!" Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a interest. They are important, you understand, without being "A confidential servant?" was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any that he has suffered." one else, I think." "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far breakfast?" bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who "Witness: Nothing definite. trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." retorted upon me, and I on you." Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought "You know me, then?" have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way "No, I think that I'll take it." Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I digesting their breakfasts at home." were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded,