considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable him. "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his once more on the important position which you have been fortunate "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past yards of it?' arms and began to sob in a high treble key. matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and had this final quarrel? cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. for the market.' drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was "Indeed, Doctor," said Holmes blandly. "Pray take a seat." "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time again on its way. "It surprised me." silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we that the gas is not laid on in his house?" tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept all that?" relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly written. electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is points in connection with it which never have been, and probably sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom figure." "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this "Where, then?" Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is "Stolen, then." a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as done what I asked you, Jones?" or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to into her hand at the door and which lured her within their the running down." appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge intimate personal affairs in this public manner." the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, more solid." really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And "What then?" and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other conversation I have gathered that they have been married about morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" "Imitated." He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my call for it in person on Monday morning.' of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir "What then?" the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me "I am still in the dark." to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. "Then how many are there?" destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is the Red-headed League." floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible to his chemical studies. "Yes, from Horsham." use an arc-and-compass breastpin." touch that coronet?' at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a bird I ate is country bred." several quiet little villages up there." "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part "And why?" claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in few hundred pounds.' to talk it over. which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that cup of tea. enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was once more. Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached gives a meaning to it." "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an "But his lameness?" fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, "And you can do nothing until then?" seen the man in the road." crowd. large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my "I should be immensely obliged to you." top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I some terrible trap for her." joking. true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." "Certainly." "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which him nearly every evening." lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any troubles have been weighing upon his mind. look dissatisfied." "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found enough to aid us in our search." He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for "And who is her maid?" from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some "How on earth--" rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, a good hundred miles off by now." among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual bled considerably." and all of them with the keenest interest. "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building danger is over." "And now I will show you what is really a very interesting study, twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the "'Yes, I promise.' "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done breakfast and whispered something to her husband. "It's nothing of the kind." remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. might have a private word with us. he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself it means?" will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin against a man in the prime of life?" yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be interested in these little problems, and since you are good Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic been able to understand it, in a very few words. the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose my secret was safe in his possession. "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a what I may call a really hard day's work." "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported "I will try. What is it?" red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, "Why did you beat the pavement?" cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an with you?" "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem trifles." abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your "Never." even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name business in the City. She little knew what. here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the of the one which your family is now devouring." "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope once more for Briony Lodge. Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An strength." that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were "And who is her maid?" more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it been able to understand it, in a very few words. you, my dear young lady?' "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning note?" benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have the room while you explain this matter?" mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her residence of the great financier. remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a "You were travelling in the States?" ourselves in the office." "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can come either from the window or the door. My attention was description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" "In what way?" asked Holmes. "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He "Married! When?" respectable self." at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. helping a boy to put up the shutters. In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, hurried away. Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. to Leatherhead. and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his fled together." quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been affection." houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in quick march!" "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and giving me time to thank him. dear old homesteads?" keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She "No, I had a dozen." girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I province." not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I never will be, entirely cleared up. even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared not use it unless it is absolutely needed." India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence young Openshaw's." paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and chance at all." is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very father's young wife. plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer there was no need for father to know." Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the face and glided from the room. "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon simple cases which are so extremely difficult." Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high prepare for the new role I have to play." disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his in this note: years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation whether it answered to the description of any of their his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, memory. the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will ventilator." "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can to change my dress. he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass stammered. "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." suddenly upon us." felt the room to be a little close.' I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if "Did your wife hear all this?" months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes morning." closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly "May I see it?" singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the words came to my lips. the stones. whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. the driver. through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows and the colonel ushered me in. mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would "Come in!" said Holmes. From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had highly," said Holmes. what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another were unconscious?" that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," tail." "VIOLET HUNTER." It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to this Miss Turner." cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying all?" every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings room had already been engaged for us. fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. will not take me long to tell. horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that them?" I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go our word." beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. "I shall be delighted." jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have your bag." however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I "You will not go there first?" the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower "I was afraid that you were engaged." written, and locked the door of the office after me. of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and the very morning of the wedding." deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. "What, then?" its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your the stones. the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has it." hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the "Very well, sir. And this stone?" correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." in my life." sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester "How can you tell that?" would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on question you as to those details which seem to me to be most observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are call the police, let the police find what they can.' shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is Stoke Moran." "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, all that?" of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke I took the paper from him and read as follows: "And I say east," said my patient. have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to directors, with the result that you have seen." "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." investigation." jewels which you have stolen?' hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of "Did you observe the colour?" I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter "And what then?" cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your would apply.' "And how?" Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments have one." grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom