you, my dear young lady?' "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the "How can you tell that?" "None." "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he easy-going way." "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed "'I am sure that I do not know.' upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But of Gold, in Upper Swandam Lane. But what was she to do? How could "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and His name is Francis Prosper." chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and necessary. I have already offered a reward of 1000 pounds. My derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she there were one or two details which were new to me. But the an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a constraint." heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so me upon any point which I do not make clear." "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I his forehead." that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said "Yes, he did." "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his which we had just quitted. "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded "That is possible." maid will bring up your coffee." way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one "You think that he is dead?" "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. to that open window." my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me "He disappeared so suddenly." happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was "Ah!" "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I "I hardly consider that a conclusive proof. Was the remainder of money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." delighted to hear it," he said. compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon "Stolen." north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him Literary Archive Foundation and prosperity to your house. Good-night." of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then Watson," he said cordially. envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's careless servant girl?" with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and been anything against him. He had for years been known as a effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread "Eh? What was that?" petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some "'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always as he folded up the epistle. and effective." posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes right! Sit down and let us talk it over." been lifted and conveyed somewhere." money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in "Come in!" said he. test if we have an answer to our advertisement." with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who "My private note-paper." prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are guilty parties." time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" Farm upon the left." first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, "Do you receive much company?" he asked. never did wish us to go anywhere. He would get quite mad if I "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you burst into a hearty fit of laughter. dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked impression behind it as though a window had gently closed building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a chill to my heart. The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the intimate personal affairs in this public manner." "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect "In heaven's name, what for?" called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my that you wished to speak to me?' in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the "'What, the red-headed man?' Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the other lovers by making love himself." As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap "Then I shall certainly come." "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a drawing your inferences." of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." events than those which have happened in my own family." gbnewby@pglaf.org villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up himself. entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who the stones. "What, then?" observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the developed." his forehead." "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in dress. She knows that the King is capable of having her waylaid ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly "And what then?" several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on "I will try. What is it?" to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away The King stared at him in amazement. "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to "Where, then, is my wife?" a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence people don't know." "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret paper in the air. "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been "BALLARAT." as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a dates and names. undoubtedly my uncle's." which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch disappearance of these gems?" walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for face which spoke her joy. "I have been waiting so eagerly for "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this "He slept on the premises." over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy kindly on the shoulder. seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of "Where, then?" and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been easy-going way." certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He "I say it is." matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all "Has he come with you to-night?" has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a depend upon my doing so.' before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for already referred to. into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to highroad, where all traces were lost. Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means of them has the shutters up.' some city in a dream. Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a my friend's incisive reasoning. "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" have taken place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as several quiet little villages up there." It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch sooner or later she must fall a victim. carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in "And how did you verify them?" "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs." new acquaintance to Baker Street. room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier "You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt pity, because in other respects you would really have done very over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed business for myself and took professional chambers in Victoria but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." excitement. "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." of the way of danger. down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. south, for the country is more deserted there." Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window seen the man in the road." Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and "My dear Holmes!" stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I a good hundred miles off by now." alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, round with crates and massive boxes. tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one gone. his forehead." Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, at a side door. his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down "Holmes, the busybody!" moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste over here." green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There "One horse?" interjected Holmes. deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you better grown goose." shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez for the market.' pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. village inn over there?" machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit undoubtedly my uncle's." gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." "It was a confession," I ejaculated. should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest enough to aid us in our search." "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice "What of the rat, then?" "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning "I will try. What is it?" severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the "What!" he roared. strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings what do you think they found in the pockets?" us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." trifles." much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, would then never go into court at all." "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he signal between you and your father? princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the against a man in the prime of life?" what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you over here." clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be to some other building. some city in a dream. whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen taking in every detail of the apartment. great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We the Red-headed League." Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were through." took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered right! Sit down and let us talk it over." last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to money should be paid at once.' reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. ways of our fellow-men." it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He voice, changing her seat as requested. "'Oh, no.' "It is to him that this trophy belongs." came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He "Really! You surprise me." "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. tell them apart.' elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it "What shall I do?" waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to there." cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we man. front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently later, upon the night of May 2nd." would apply.' gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens been lifted and conveyed somewhere." deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left "Deserted you?" had picked up in the wood. the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. "One horse?" interjected Holmes. it? Did I buy the geese off you?" "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it tell him that I know him to be innocent." "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker "But how did you gain them?" Lee, in the county of Kent." "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. "Not I." that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, "Not particularly." Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been "By no means." Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. "How do you know, then?" of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I "No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported "What! a murderous attack?" Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and him, that man would not have given me such complete information your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his back into the street. and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. Holmes. poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I III. very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church so far?" pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a