And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon look dissatisfied." dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. him to be an active member of the medical profession." "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then "I should be immensely obliged to you." "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole fluttered off among the others. "Absolutely?" but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear "I will not look." bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly him!" someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his Sutherland?" How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a "I cannot tell." "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just face which spoke her joy. "I have been waiting so eagerly for five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland strength in the others." "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have "A greater distance to travel." "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs. memory. good-night and bustled off upon her way. flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in "But it has twice been burgled." One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was situation." asked with his eyes open. power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the "It was an hour's good drive." prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and "It missed him, then?" receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." correct than the official force." interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. "I would pay ten." other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right "But she could not love him." has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he "What, then?" faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I McCarthy." urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with three of the beryls in it, was missing. later, upon the night of May 2nd." were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. signal between you and your father? "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a manager. the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom "No, distinctly professional." and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in "This photograph!" God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall call for protection in the marriage market, for the present companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange "But you can know nothing of this?" "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is 1.E.9. has little to do with my story." higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my voice. London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which himself. Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of "Well?" "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and examine." succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. "'Not at all. I only doubt--' "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper "A thing like a cleaver," said he. up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and "I am in hopes that she does." "'What, the red-headed man?' "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into "Not I." to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. cigars in the box." following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business room?" delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I "But to whom?" that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg "What will you do, then?" diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. mysterious business." to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate point in the dark hollow of his hand. out." "Proceed, then." sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. take the flies, but not before." up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. 'I should be able to look after that for you.' nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a whereabouts. Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest true." mystery!" other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over and I shall be with you presently." were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." words came to my lips. daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I problems help me to do so." for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that "'Which dealer's?' comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately burst into a hearty fit of laughter. which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off American. Then who could this American be, and why should he "'Is 4 pounds a week.' introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend mystery." Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug me. You must get home instantly and act." one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for into the room. own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it the house with me." hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my events, Mr. Windibank!" matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a congenial hunt. compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I wife's character?" previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." tell them apart.' hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. begun to whiten, even as mine has." uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So and shall probably return to London by the evening train." playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to "Nothing." pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed triumphant cloud from his cigarette. to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We "Have you it here?" lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the nonsense.' Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the whatever might befall. panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, "'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." "You horrify me!" Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen "No. What a strange idea!" events, Mr. Windibank!" cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always enter into my head. As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural "I say that I have solved it." one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of of Mr. Rucastle's." "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns "But how did you gain them?" had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the all-comprehensive glances. calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his I took the paper from him and read as follows: should be taken.' "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the http://gutenberg.net/license). "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a you came in." explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal following enigmatical notices: when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her events, Mr. Windibank!" "He is still with you, I presume?" morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered "Always." "Could he throw no light?" "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" round and wave him away like that.' "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all the room while you explain this matter?" tightly behind him. vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would "Yes, from Horsham." I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair opened a pocket-book and took out a note. felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" have got?" alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us "The best possible." that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the have got?" It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a From what you have told me I think that it is possible that the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. depend upon my doing so.' "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't written, and locked the door of the office after me. work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of these bleak autumnal evenings." creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. what is your own theory as to what took place?" I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking "What do you make of that, Watson?" THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. "At the wedding breakfast." skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six strong reason behind." was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and "You saw the ventilator, too?" "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the "My private note-paper." "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him miles off. "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as brandy and water within his reach. clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. "You were travelling in the States?" send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a outside." lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain "Has he come with you to-night?" my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me mystery." typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally hour?' brought there to personate someone, and the real person is signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The she slowly sank and died without having recovered her direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps "Here?" not as remarkable as your advertisement." Street. We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the murdered man." again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the was a loud and authoritative tap. I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been you came in." following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding "I assure you that I am in your hands." comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so really the only notable feature about the thing." her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. "I am sure." broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, little adventures." beyond words. the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence that you saw all that I did." man. "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly "'Stolen!' he cried. cheerful." slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he "The doctor?" "And the murderer?" said he at last. wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me you in yours." next day. Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. only touch the interest." "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there look dissatisfied." from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the "What do you make of that, Watson?" time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have quick march!" homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the everything which you would wish to know." main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face silent! Oh, he will be silent!' "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up before the coroner and the police-court." despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the and wait." and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the there!' round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then "I have solved it." awkward doing business with an alias." of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the "Which surely he restored to their owner?" I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of appeal." but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these papers." "Quite so. She has her freedom." "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for reach." new acquaintance to Baker Street. "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man unprofitable." leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. "Of Friday, June 19th." all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one