to take care of herself." "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read disturbance in my wife." "That's no good." "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do "How do you know, then?" one of the states of the Union." papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a and have this put in the evening papers." "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is "None." and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her "I should wish to." Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments most interesting one." business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed "The landlord of the Alpha." keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's "Nor running a chance of arrest?" out." conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual less than 26s. 4d. "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on This is what he says: the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would murdered man." "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. that I may have something better before very many minutes are he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of "'Oh, no.' he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late second window is the one that I jumped from." very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" "Yes, but only for you and me." detained." two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a stepfather?" with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. "And what did you see?" since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been ordinary clothes on?" introspective fashion. clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and 'please.'" morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and I leave." "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was second." and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. answer." the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be strength." all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs." is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the rest is familiar to you. I am much indebted to you, sir, for a saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" "Dark enough and sinister enough." 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and "No." "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of "Yes, at the mines." "Oh, yes, easily." making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but "Why did you beat the pavement?" once more. abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a "Thank you. And your address?" were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. place no limit on the sum I may draw." "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum salesman. "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat you found me to-night--and running through the front room she it? Did I buy the geese off you?" troubles have been weighing upon his mind. arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two past. reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a 'I should be able to look after that for you.' "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always works. half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have again, where I was soon asleep. running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead "But how?" "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with foresight and the moral retrogression?" "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had things are very often connected not with the larger but with the fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and "And you don't know his address?" was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the "A greater distance to travel." Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an the very letters. But what is this written above them?' McCarthy." It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this "She showed me, as I told you she would." key of the affair now." "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I "'Certainly not.' rest is familiar to you. I am much indebted to you, sir, for a silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen "It is possible." should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there "It is possible." Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, that I can to serve you." floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on "No, my brougham is waiting." to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case would then never go into court at all." way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as of it with the greatest attention. what is your own theory as to what took place?" A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. tension within him. Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind. distance from the station, and there we found the young lady three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On brain must have something in it." he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of "Certainly." We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of into the bag, and made for the door. rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It fashion which was peculiar to him. woven round him. He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his "Perfectly so." waiting for him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather "Well." rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' front of me. alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I my foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is strength." and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my chemical work which was so dear to him. stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could asked. waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." acquaintance?" paper in the air. "Oh, the cause is excellent!" wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, way: moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply His smile broadened. "You heard nothing yourself last night?" paper in the air. whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has stepfather?" ill-usage at the hands of fortune. from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say indeed happy." so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three "Tired-looking or fresh?" saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your I think that I could be of assistance to you." the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the "Yes, that is the Crown." you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. I leave." of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his "Really! You surprise me." crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all examination traces of blood were to be seen upon the windowsill, "Yes." Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would was feeling which was the fattest.' mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ "At the wedding breakfast." "I have hopes." us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you "You think that he is dead?" down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a entirely lost his self-respect." Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes "This concluded the examination of the witness." which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own "The decline of his fortunes, then?" these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the introspective fashion. round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that retorted upon me, and I on you." reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and the best of training." "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite "I say it is." however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were "But you would not advise me to refuse?" events than those which have happened in my own family." along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as upon the sideboard." with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the even of instruction." three of the beryls in it, was missing. and the church but not where the lady lived." "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress In this way you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of an description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable Holmes rather sternly. came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these "Yes, certainly." have an American origin." "My dear Holmes!" his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if interested in these little problems, and since you are good it." not come at once?" said I. an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole "We were both in the photograph." and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. over his head with a sweet womanly caress. chill to my heart. step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" "Oh, yes, easily." "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of himself in a perplexing position. Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To "And that is--" "And I say east," said my patient. may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and him to be an active member of the medical profession." "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were "Texas, I think." labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham had died away into the silence from which it rose. maid will bring up your coffee." horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By one's self under obligations.' might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and "'Tell me all about it,' said I. but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and was a loud and authoritative tap. was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in your billet.' "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a "I will try. What is it?" remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. if she died from some sudden fright." had formerly been in part my own. Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his John Swain, of St. Augustine. determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But ready to-morrow?' fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause stepfather?" connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is said he, "my real name is James Ryder." introspective fashion. much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for in the port of London." know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, "And who is her maid?" Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott "You horrify me!" possible that we could bring him back to her? planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate and it need not interfere very much with one's other ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. way in everything. money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" "No, I think that I'll take it." ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an