"Where, then, is my wife?" this truth that in these little records of our cases which you set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 "Why did you beat the pavement?" read over the extraordinary announcement. him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. before, for it was considerably after midnight. my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the of campaign. We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two "Oh, fresh and glossy." our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. congenial hunt. the best of training." society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in made his money." that threaten you." for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while companion quietly. clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the "One of his hands." "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have conclusions. the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have "But how?" Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by the general public were present, then?" "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." himself. "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as a few minutes he said that it would be all right. With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I know that the truth is known." little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my had a long day." a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned thin legs towards the fire. amused." matter." remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, children over to America with him, so that I found myself without "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his "You have done wisely," said my friend. "But have you told me In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, "Did you become engaged then?" Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as "One horse?" interjected Holmes. hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and assist you in forming an opinion." "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended "But how?" all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had more solid." DAMAGE. him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses ready to-morrow?' the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has his cane at the bell-pull. morning." bedroom door." exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was see me here to avoid scandal." excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and that?' PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for most important business. It is probable that he will be away all to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to away in different directions, and I went off to make my own which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of previous husband--the chances being in favour of the latter." "She showed me, as I told you she would." am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every 1.F. the devil!" "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' and the colonel ushered me in. "'It is locked up,' I answered. mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons "How did you deduce the select?" sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be foresight and the moral retrogression?" Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together derbies." "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt "What will you say?" the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, locked. which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his bare slabs of marble. seen the man in the road." grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not fat-encircled eyes. chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss "'And the work?' my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free It was close upon four before the door opened, and a She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can "The vanishing of the lady." received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the death." pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that one or two very singular points about this room. For example, And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, searched, without anything being found which could incriminate the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately away into the river." in this way: touch that coronet?' Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." "It certainly sounds feasible." "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side me what he had done with the three missing stones. past. however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little "Your sister is dead, then?" "'Is purely nominal.' "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a outside. must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do "10th. John Swain cleared. superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking "And how did you find out?" we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the might have a private word with us. the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this could not account in any way for the presence of the missing the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of Leadenhall Street--and--" her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not know that the truth is known." seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong invisible to me," I remarked. suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his photograph?" following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the "Won't it ring?" distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly used to be." woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she "BALLARAT." caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, occurred." charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was "I guessed as much." few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." "In which, sir?" even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the lumber-room." opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little "Stoke Moran?" said he. him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, fire. You quite follow me?" "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as "More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table be there in time for your coming." the side-table." with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of be there in time for your coming." triumphant cloud from his cigarette. "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation distinguish the words: even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew status with the IRS. ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the in him." tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls open." down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, "And what did you learn from him?" pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we "Because he was handy and would come cheap." could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom "'Stolen!' he cried. lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very cheerful." the window, rose as we entered. it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of down from London to inquire more deeply into it." Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I shall not find me ungrateful." looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very power." "We must have a cab." "Yes, all." "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was compunction about shooting them down." police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began "Certainly, madam." the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a "I saw her in conversation with her maid." "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been "Entirely." At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler." responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in "She told me to ask you." "Yes." common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards brain must have something in it." "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was lucky chance, I think that we have got them right enough." "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the "What have you done?" asked Holmes. of them has the shutters up.' stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the late." leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the "Stolen, then." it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." 1.F. shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot "'Most admirably.' be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this man. I know him from the photograph." have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to "It surprised me." Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, that you wished to speak to me?' outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of sit on the left-hand side of the driver." its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. tension within him. permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his fasten all the windows?" with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow "'You cannot say what it was?' closing the door. all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project who was a member of your goose club." to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right sound at heart." "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you you want, then?' secret." "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who woman." "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a empty. family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be "9th. McCauley cleared. possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to "He said too much." introspective fashion. our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's down in his armchair and closing his eyes. "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, "Then you may be so with me." "Your sister is dead, then?" filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the "She walked into the breakfast-room." "Yes." that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you infinite languor in his face. charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." that you saw all that I did." "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." or other trace. But how on earth--" dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole