the station." the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still any." professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we open." towards the blaze. "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady over here." 1.F. figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt there when the Rucastles went away." my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others arrangements." was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was "Really! You surprise me." case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes." wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, "I guessed as much." It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of strength." scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to his interest. Lestrade, being rather puzzled, has referred the look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can appeared upon the scene." him to be an active member of the medical profession." abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and "None." shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his "Quite so." fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. "He might." waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered himself in a perplexing position. I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, Young McCarthy must be got off, however." "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a "So I am. Very much so." Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon Eyford." should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the and your relations to her." "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, fasten all the windows?" outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window "I shall be delighted." "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped chemical work which was so dear to him. very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds outside." "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any fasten all the windows?" it." to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this British barque "Sophy Anderson", of the singular adventures of the events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident, tied." his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. yards of it?' Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any the tragedy. for its centre. "But how?" grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up "'And the work?' Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number "Yes. He waved his hands." "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both "I have my revolver," said I. following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic the one as in the other." when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the points in connection with it which never have been, and probably the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case any." and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small "And how did you find out?" from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making four million human beings all jostling each other within the feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. now. It seems that there had been some informality about their we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was in his hands." from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not "And why in hopes?" "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. make me his representative both with the servants and with the back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" comes from the middle window." "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which the Assizes." right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well forbidden door. fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous was the fact that his father should, according to his account, Cross for the Continent." "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded then?" compunction about shooting them down." Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and sparkled upon his finger. "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added burst out into a roar of laughter. beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital "You have a clue?" "Your sister is dead, then?" believe that I should never have any practice at all. to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in "Ah!" massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of "Witness: I must still refuse. posted to-day." a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great floor. her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over coat-tails." tail." up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look breakfast." landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this "But you would not advise me to refuse?" "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside your room." course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the ways of our fellow-men." though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were "The rest you will leave in our hands." defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes." made him keep the appointment." facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to III. "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should hour." discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again "Can I be of assistance?" souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise bed dies. Does not that strike you?" returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your "What!" he roared. strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper the driver. man. We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do country, and eventually married, without anyone having a "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw This is what he says: battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and money should be paid at once.' "He disappeared so suddenly." about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events "Pray do so." fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will "It is no ordinary one." while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at suspect him." ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which may never be exposed to such a temptation." however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all was not a bird to be seen there. The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with "No, thank goodness, she did not." likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I of note-paper. It read in this fashion: it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of "And that is--" whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. Surrey." "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are country, and eventually married, without anyone having a Mrs. Toller serenely. having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the details should find their way into the papers. Inspector had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the certainly do as you advise." both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of neither fascinating nor artistic." "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the business at Coburg Square is serious." had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without late." "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project was the fact that his father should, according to his account, fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is "Not him." style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are felt?" Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." "What will you say?" broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we "And did you observe any change in her then?" not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this very different level to your Majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet amused." the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" forecastle of an emigrant ship. Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that washing it down with a long draught of water. because she had spent so short a time in this country that she 1.E.9. were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would "One of the highest in England." think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied. Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which searched, without anything being found which could incriminate "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." shoulder. more solid." extraordinary contortions. "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." third from London." Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. "Then what has happened to him?" The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some country, and eventually married, without anyone having a dead, shall be safe with us." you." said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a "Look there!" said he. so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle cause to be." decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that points to suicide?" would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She "It is solved." younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination was a lad." pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" "What then?" "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran "'Very good.' be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to to Leatherhead. "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came are, and they are waiting for us." stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to away in different directions, and I went off to make my own or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which the station." Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was Pope's Court, Fleet Street." answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and your equipment. uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual a few minutes he said that it would be all right. police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off I shall continue with my miserable story. eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, "Yes, the wine-cellar." where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is telegram would bring me down to your help." wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other legal crime." in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an future lives." estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. the morning and make my own way in the world.' maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" disappearance of the bride.'" away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said manager. "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To are, I think, all that we need." "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I was keenly on my guard against him. said I. his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories.