away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself formed some opinion?" some city in a dream. chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight "He might." particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. father's young wife. instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance over part of the map. "What do you read?" and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. and shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint and that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from "Yes, that is the Crown." young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler." "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I be.' dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was voice, changing her seat as requested. "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong suggested at once that there must be a communication between the dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. there were one or two details which were new to me. But the "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it could not have written that. It is the German who is so "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not Good-afternoon, Miss Stoner. You see that we have been as good as the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged within hail.' the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and his forehead." "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' had a long day." "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should which I could not give. He asked for Alice. my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it was a perfect sample of the class. informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out of Mr. Rucastle's." mystery." lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be our word." Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the been deceived." the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been train from Paddington which would bring you there at about and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best "Yes." memory. your sleep?' person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without "The decline of his fortunes, then?" intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' had picked up in the wood. severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. "'It is locked up,' I answered. something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to "'Quite sure, dad.' values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew this truth that in these little records of our cases which you ways including including checks, online payments and credit card late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, official police, but it is not pleasant to have a family stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, strength of mind to control. possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, the Red-headed League." room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to cannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest I held the little printed slip to the light. and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I gigantic client. dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would "Not in the least." drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the during that time.' "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in introspective fashion. the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. "What?" us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known served to weaken the effect. either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter frequently gained my first real insight into the character of difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, was a perfect sample of the class. We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he unprofitable." 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it "I will try. What is it?" suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a me." "BALLARAT." weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional "This photograph!" matter." "I will get her to show me." seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with "Very. But will he see it?" your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far "And how did you find out?" him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly posted to-day." I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic "Certainly, madam." "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for drawing your inferences." was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up fled together." may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in the coroner come to?" slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried mysterious business." returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just now. straighten it?" "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly "Did he not advertise?" we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the "But how?" appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen. "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." is acting for the best. "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed "No sign of it?" might help us?" despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I again on its way. white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to call for it in person on Monday morning.' "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the never to learn it at all." Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you tightly behind him. so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, of the vacancies.' his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the "'You doubt its value?' he asked. in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted to-night?" I asked. the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a husband's writing, madam." lost his Christmas dinner." remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of wedding?" "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, to tackle the facts." luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of "But how?" "It was." the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not "What do you mean?" as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it "Of Friday, June 19th." did not hear it also.' Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself upon the sideboard." The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out jewels which you have stolen?' least a most suspicious remark." "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; "At the wedding breakfast." the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last whole matter to your consideration." woman." the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was digesting their breakfasts at home." look dissatisfied." "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. our word." the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped his huge brown hands. of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much than was visible to me." There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made the best of training." "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what "That you are never beaten." then?" "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King you understand?" "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." of this gang." delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit compunction about shooting them down." effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out said I. disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we "That was it, sir." "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would "Why, it's a dummy," said he. shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious. frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united least a most suspicious remark." "We have tried and failed." ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to lucky chance, I think that we have got them right enough." facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold and your relations to her." rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling digesting their breakfasts at home." "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." "Really! You surprise me." "I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I "'I have already given you my word.' "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a Where does the thing come from?' meanly of me." "But of what society?" unprofitable." disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her the matter." and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps daring than any effort of the imagination." and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you Young McCarthy must be got off, however." said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and arrangements." Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would so far?" I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in highroad, where all traces were lost. matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now excitement. sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of "My last client of the sort was a king." It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very new acquaintance to Baker Street. cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in "Yes, it was twisted." no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I "It must be recovered." Have you good authority for what you say?" "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time have been better. It is all right." have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I Eyford at 11:15.' have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off redistribution. "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner "VIOLET HUNTER." permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." "And what then?" would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his sit on the left-hand side of the driver." "You heard nothing yourself last night?" "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, John Swain, of St. Augustine. arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so held up the lantern and gazed about him. "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. "That was it, sir." you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a "I know where it is." thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for him." "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing "None." You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. any more." other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the had died away into the silence from which it rose. waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, "Yes, that is the Crown." "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He taking in every detail of the apartment. correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord Eyford at 11:15.' child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper a room. springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I