pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble might have a private word with us. answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught "How do you know, then?" Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor "Now, then, what's the last entry?" "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked hurried away. him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, ago." bonnet, and went out." in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," if I call to-morrow?" was already answered. "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, three of the beryls in it, was missing. as he remarks, very much against the son." the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no generous with you in money matters.' acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway have had none more fantastic than this." "What do you make of that, Watson?" suddenly upon us." "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to four million human beings all jostling each other within the but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his I nodded again. "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided been with you?" - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography see me here to avoid scandal." "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it "Never." seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of "I answered that I had not. from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making time." bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of it." he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other "Pray do so." results." us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up intimate personal affairs in this public manner." the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler." "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found chill to my heart. "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. "No, my brougham is waiting." promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. wedding?" reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in evidence," I remarked. impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his recall any case within my experience which looked at the first separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, "Yes." must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room nothing with him." mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black Dr. Gregory B. Newby like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need jewels which you have stolen?' so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in "I am still in the dark." he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." just ask you whether you had heard it.' they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in that the gas is not laid on in his house?" his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very "Yes, it was twisted." him, that man would not have given me such complete information very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have "I have a cab outside." so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of always that they were such commands as a lady might with he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his bed dies. Does not that strike you?" "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I dates and names. Sholtos." clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and man. I know him from the photograph." a suggestive one." It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a that there was nothing in it, after all." the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the the King without delay." Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has "You heard nothing yourself last night?" again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. very different level to your Majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I despaired of." joking. "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your "What have you done?" asked Holmes. "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We families. Now for the facts. "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, place, I think that there is good ground to think that the A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I empty. This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred frequently gained my first real insight into the character of here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said "Nor running a chance of arrest?" tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one would then never go into court at all." unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It client, rising. "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers Sutherland?" red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's one which it was hard to resist. myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is "To an end?" has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents four million human beings all jostling each other within the of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless "Yes, it was twisted." it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I peculiar to him. He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich "There are none." "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest like gravel from a pit.' paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very "But how will you look?" the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was "If so, much may have happened between." as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a goes." "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than mysterious business." no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be "Not particularly." he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the are windows in it, of course?" A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. fluttered off among the others. cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just appointment with me for six o'clock?" time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the "Stoke Moran?" said he. abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa despaired of." "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, had formerly been in part my own. "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the in him." as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though conceal it?" was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San John Swain, of St. Augustine. which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, *** START: FULL LICENSE *** pictures, libraries, or plate. and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 the morning and make my own way in the world.' heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they face and glided from the room. believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to better grown goose." followed. "Yes." the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe true." helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no prisoner's face. "None. Neville wrote those words." our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his "No." in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our to you." "'And the work?' of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I rooms." "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would "No good news?" was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off meanly of me." going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads there is a decided draught." newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in himself to hunt down. "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as with some details as to your case." it. "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the and have this put in the evening papers." I have it here in my museum." tightly behind him. to talk it over. nothing of it?" happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you "Breckinridge is his name." "I came to find a friend." think that he is innocent?" "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety the nursery. objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly "You horrify me!" both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would one of the states of the Union." in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay October 9, 1890. things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the "In San Francisco, a year ago." possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, "Yes." and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the out of this horrible affair." on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, "Did he not advertise?" Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the fled together." more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" "If so, much may have happened between." chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of "No." most interesting one." "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the might help us?" suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet shaken than I had ever seen him. sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." "It is solved." "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very prison!" seem to you to be relevant or not." "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." nights." "We were both in the photograph." reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. hereditary King of Bohemia." from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked "This concluded the examination of the witness." hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten "No, I am descending." machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. back into the street. "Why serious?" "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock In this way you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of an Where does the thing come from?' of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of province." was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his married her." time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between answer." "But she could not love him." that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a beg that you will break it off." can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That "Nothing." posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied room. learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' in this note: number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to "And did you observe any change in her then?" "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." bears upon the case?" "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we pound a week." was once confined in the cab my mission was practically my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her Eyford at 11:15.' endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one "I could hardly believe my ears. As you may observe, Mr. Holmes, "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." "It is true that I have been generally successful." refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned foot. snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr.