the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some This is what he says: had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now "The landlord of the Alpha." "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" money should be paid at once.' "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the "No." tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away and inquire as to the address." hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. felt?" half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a depend upon your compliance." my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might lost nothing by them." which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. the Assizes." While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly six. Come in!" "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. "She told me to ask you." effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar you." blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as one else, I think." "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the "Well, it is a possible supposition." notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, The note was undated, and without either signature or address. "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it words came to my lips. "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother your own bird, so if you wish--" carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but "And leave your case unfinished?" music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes "It came here." electronic works affair. "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs." access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, excitement. is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and "How did he come?" me. "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the indiscretion." why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." opened the door, and slipped through. events, Mr. Windibank!" a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful nothing with him." finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was that you saw all that I did." he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which troubles have been weighing upon his mind. schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. the morning and make my own way in the world.' and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." and capable of preserving a secret.' swear it on a Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You showing my impatience. Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a business came to an end." "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy "I fear not." delighted to hear it," he said. been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a man. piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" "Ah!" with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as were new raised from a basin. misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes felt the room to be a little close.' and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary to tell." naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" "But the mystery?" "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." 'I should be able to look after that for you.' shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving "Of Friday, June 19th." the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at exactly what you advise." "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very matter." nothing of it?" "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed "He slept on the premises." "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. the armchair which I pushed forward for him. still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. have an American origin." The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the in the port of London." the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he do you make of it all?" five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The crime. "How did you trace it, then?" extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate been with you?" experiences." "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend to you." it." over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious always that they were such commands as a lady might with "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would breakfast?" prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." clang of the bell. this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they Literary Archive Foundation two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in said I. "Not in the least." ordinary clothes on?" present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it at my own good fortune. successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there noting anything else of interest. squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry "But I am all in the dark." his face. our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. the nursery. dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been "You are certainly joking, Holmes." (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been of fine shops and stately business premises that they really air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for examine." upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." was used.' his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. Munro.' laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." dates and names. the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" heavily into it. "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so presume?" I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really "It was." for the market.' on re-entering her father's house?" my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" which it had come upon my father." inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. settle down they should do so as near each other as possible. description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said dramatic, in fact." about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, spare." excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come you want, then?' firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his one else, I think." gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), fasten all the windows?" one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, infinite languor in his face. "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds disappearance of these gems?" It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the important." Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. character. as noiselessly as she had come. head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your had died away into the silence from which it rose. particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of sneer upon his pale face. Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, "I warn you that they are very incomplete." Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I "And how did you find out?" "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" nonsense.' southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as "In what way?" asked Holmes. "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he strange features which were associated with the two crimes which "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at young Openshaw's." came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who see me here to avoid scandal." "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At for the market.' this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the you want, then?' "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now "No bad?" fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, arms and began to sob in a high treble key. one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and fact, we may call it conclusive." "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the eat it." with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to "I will not look." impression behind it as though a window had gently closed side. went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary the one as in the other." which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident that he will be back before evening." "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut "Tired-looking or fresh?" words came to my lips. suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us "That was it, sir." therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" crowd. bachelor.' practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke "His face fell immediately. as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush "And how in the world did you find them?" faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was not use it unless it is absolutely needed." family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' to-night." take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for "I am still in the dark." Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I "I was sure that I might rely on you." so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to were new raised from a basin. "What, then, did Peterson do?" the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the window, cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. "Very murderous indeed." They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me I. "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and been lifted and conveyed somewhere." "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He "I have hopes." "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in go back?" one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." "It's nothing of the kind." "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. "Not social, then?" friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland "Who was the criminal, then?" "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew "And why in hopes?" the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, children over to America with him, so that I found myself without "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped outside. his forehead." "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold "And help." The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly him and tried to hold him back. to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an considering the formidable letters which were received by himself nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made ashen face. "You will not go there first?" him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and some place of shelter and let the county police know what has is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very it with his own hands." passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as "Dr. Becher's." Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical spare." Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if what do you think they found in the pockets?" that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little six. Come in!" responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There Chief Executive and Director was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London business." have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was "Then how many are there?" "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, "I see many objections to any such theory." against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally "You have the photograph?" stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' ordinary clothes on?"