it were putty." himself in a perplexing position. "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet in your London, you will know that the office of the company is "What?" Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' "9th. McCauley cleared. was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting have I gained?" "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, been deceived." upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a the stable lane now." de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more families. Now for the facts. "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they think that any burglar could have done. skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" girl said." matters immensely." I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that "And who is her maid?" when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more In this way you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of an business matters.' reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the "Very truly yours, my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his more terrible than the truth. crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to goes." as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be Doctor, of the paper and the date." vague figure huddled up in the darkness. opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we face and glided from the room. very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler him to go away.' But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little presume?" sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is The events in question occurred in the early days of my for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by refused to deal summarily with the offence, but referred it to unpleasant thing about the house, which struck me at once, was save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an business." highly," said Holmes. conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to enter into my head. bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and must compliment you." dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go a few minutes he said that it would be all right. little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts noble correspondent could be. "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too "My dear Holmes!" "My dear Holmes!" "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident she to prove their authenticity?" Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent became a certainty. tell him that I know him to be innocent." row." to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would tapping his fingers upon the table. in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" bearing upon the case." "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. where we are going." secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a The note was undated, and without either signature or address. "Texas, I think." thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my "A call for help, you thought?" records." Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as "You have but to name it." intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back already referred to. half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, conduct the inquiry." Cross for the Continent." call you and give you the chance." paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger "What can it mean?" I gasped. while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide "That is unusual in a young girl." and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove "Proceed, then." "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. "I will try. What is it?" electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings certainly do as you advise." every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom been." compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I from the brougham. written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a them present such singular features as the strange train of it." Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole companion imperturbably. to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy strength of mind to control. "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence "Nearly eleven." chemical work which was so dear to him. Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I "Quite so." Miss Holder?" brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is fish-monger and a tide-waiter." down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" me. You must get home instantly and act." prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," of Fenchurch Street." the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the she might be summoned. found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A gone. son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the tail." with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of "It is a murder, then?" clang of the bell. of." Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece "That is possible." "Then, for God's sake, what was this dark business which was "My stepfather's business papers." travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. questionable one." the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew beyond words. "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is brought there to personate someone, and the real person is and no precautions can guard against." "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave "'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the will he say when he returns?" with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations done what I asked you, Jones?" walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular his knees, staring into the fire. "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream crowd. continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his suggested at once that there must be a communication between the I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I "I see many objections to any such theory." what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in "What can it mean?" I gasped. valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, the very letters. But what is this written above them?' re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you least a fellow-countryman. isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She his face. Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt "Yes, from Horsham." "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than "'Very good.' of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while "I cannot imagine." the one as in the other." Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for "'Stolen!' he cried. way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are back alive. this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which bonnet, and went out." business for myself and took professional chambers in Victoria could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room "I have a cab outside." the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge signal between you and your father? "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting chance at all." hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money "Why? What do you mean?" burst out into a roar of laughter. extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you certainly not very gracious." Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe father's place of business?" Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came presented more singular features than that which was associated from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. wedding?" too. "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, room. was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I so far?" he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that "It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. mystery may be cleared along those lines." I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing "Then, as to money?" should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your 809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. lamp in his hand. her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" it were putty." "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she You want to know what became of those geese?" of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An be sorry for having acted so harshly." from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and and looked back. well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. Holmes rather sternly. "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" best detective that ever lived. His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would records." it. whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as have taken place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." directors have had misgivings upon the subject." and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that "No, but the enclosure is." foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little the Red-headed League." offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up "My stepfather's business papers." "I beg pardon." country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I the side-table." the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my entirely devoid of interest." compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of "Certainly." "Nothing." got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass 'please.'" for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were "'I shall certainly be there.' part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black success. "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect "No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some be sorry for having acted so harshly." He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with "Why, what do you mean?" words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more 809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very are windows in it, of course?" "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous things are very often connected not with the larger but with the written, and locked the door of the office after me. all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by "And how in the world did you find them?" turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is late!' "And who is her maid?" receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and "Very much so." "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came "You saw the ventilator, too?" "But his left-handedness." "Where is it, then?" red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age