had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over of the vacancies.' "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn "What have you done?" asked Holmes. was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend all-comprehensive glances. gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at shall not find me ungrateful." friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to straighten it?" near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of peculiar to him. have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A cigar and let me expound." not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend "How do you know, then?" from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not you do it in twenty minutes!' look dissatisfied." "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." "'Certainly not.' science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell with you alone." "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of searched, without anything being found which could incriminate a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark "You have it, sir, just as it happened." is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in "Your presence might be invaluable." to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that "I was afraid that you were engaged." possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross ran thus: his forehead." squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of this Miss Turner." course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. excitement. second window is the one that I jumped from." "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all "No, I am descending." It may be so in this case, also." "Could he throw no light?" and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would "Stoke Moran?" said he. into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to to go into your room and bar your shutters?" "Then I shall certainly come." In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" "One of the highest in England." exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. ourselves in the office." I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, at my own good fortune. occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business "No bad?" outbreak?" "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the "And what then?" Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to corner of the building. "I was sure that I might rely on you." hair?' A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain "But you can know nothing of this?" side. wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, Countess of Morcar's?" "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' what these perils are?" always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, "Nor running a chance of arrest?" making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing "But how did you gain them?" Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' "What is it?" coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the to tell." "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and "I am sure." "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress invisible to me," I remarked. would then never go into court at all." "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I and prosperity to your house. Good-night." found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, "I was afraid that you were engaged." should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it unprecedented a position." suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the matters immensely." that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who and files of the old papers, following the future career of every "That is also quite modern," said the lady. to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. The note was undated, and without either signature or address. at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads this Miss Turner." of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could get her out of the way." in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham already been minutely examined." He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even interests were the same as his." that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time an introduction to him?" Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I a few minutes he said that it would be all right. light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by sufficient punishment." few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him You can understand that this register and diary may implicate "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune it." friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' meant it for the best. woven round him. Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been foresight and the moral retrogression?" round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." that threaten you." down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't "'I have already given you my word.' quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then help us in this matter." answered with a sidelong glance. "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are "'Yes.' near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." him nearly every evening." three fields round his house, and there he would take his "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at "Nothing." other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking depend upon your compliance." waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. results." listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through have been better. It is all right." "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper rather more to my taste than Italian or French. It is gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily "And you don't know his address?" before the coroner and the police-court." "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." nice household for a young lady." along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he returned to France?" "I am about to be married." purpose of examination. quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland eat it." was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has letters?" strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he who was a member of your goose club." very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every "Of what?" granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence works. and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for "Witness: Nothing definite. hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to "Did you observe the colour?" "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back "Which are?" He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. "The vanishing of the lady." End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by the Red-headed League." "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was beg that you will break it off." values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I look upon these things in a different way." They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't any assistance, either to you or to my friend here, I shall be Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one "To ruin me." formed some opinion?" "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up Holmes." possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. obstinate." of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. "My dear Holmes!" absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and "A call for help, you thought?" companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's "What, then?" correct than the official force." surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your them?" tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these "In heaven's name, what for?" office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who "Get out!" said he. "Yes, it was twisted." blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise there in twenty minutes." twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been me." flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of "Yesterday." sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature points to suicide?" one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of your equipment. "I beg pardon." confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon to some other building. point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first who is not only proficient in his profession but is also discreet upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort to me. considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they "Will you bet, then?" Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and lost his Christmas dinner." said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by question you as to those details which seem to me to be most make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's during the last few years, and there are many noble families to he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are of the efforts of the United States government and of the better framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar night.' said he. I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his was suffering from some strong agitation, which it took all his deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A "You have it, sir, just as it happened." great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for there when the Rucastles went away." to a more successful conclusion." room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his children over to America with him, so that I found myself without Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get Pope's Court. sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to him to be an active member of the medical profession." just called myself is not exactly my own." they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the lumber-room." SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his "Yes, he did." to-night?' "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by point in the dark hollow of his hand. most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is was once confined in the cab my mission was practically all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he completely overtopped every other consideration that we both grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we away into the river." had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a green of the new foliage. wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I that you saw all that I did." with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug occurred." mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be "I could hardly believe my ears. As you may observe, Mr. Holmes, Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall God! What an exposure! What can I do?" gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but spark where all is dark to me." end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of I shall continue with my miserable story. was feeling which was the fattest.' distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly