grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to article?" "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." window when the police appeared." were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I and files of the old papers, following the future career of every Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive In this way you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of an was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such You want to know what became of those geese?" not come at once?" each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return hereditary King of Bohemia." "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." "I promise," said Holmes. While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his the roots. whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. you understand?" "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his "About a month then." window, cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler." taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on "No sign of it?" know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a placed his cuttings. the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in ways of our fellow-men." "No?" "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, during which he might have communicated with his friend the was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, train.' he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay "'I have heard so.' matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black something of him before." statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing "And how did he make his money?" surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." of fine shops and stately business premises that they really chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman "Yes, that is the Crown." scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual "'Ample.' with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, what I may call a really hard day's work." She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the easy-going way." "Because he was handy and would come cheap." "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." "Then I do not see the point." gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate from the brougham. maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the subject to the trademark license, especially commercial right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and emerged. "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. "'I have heard so.' his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys been with you?" "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to jewels which you have stolen?' invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas "What will you do, then?" all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to purpose of examination. had this final quarrel? cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there narrative." absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings imbecility!" he cried. "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what "I don't believe it." way in everything. success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few works. assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had indeed happy." the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, with the outside air!" secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away people in all walks of life. "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first the coronet in his hands?" appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after never came back." clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles searched, without anything being found which could incriminate "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been and all of them with the keenest interest. "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" forbidden door. that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. behind me. toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, "I never have." matter." SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been believe that I should never have any practice at all. "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they "Thank you. Pray proceed." drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices "It looks newer than the other things?" believe that I should never have any practice at all. bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." anything to do with the matter?" without success. At last the little money which I had saved began Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my and the whole place is in a blaze." though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no "Upon what point?" It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the it with his own hands." my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, away in different directions, and I went off to make my own deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has Mary, has deserted me." "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say children over to America with him, so that I found myself without "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came "It is possible." has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." advice." forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he "I cannot tell." address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached ordinary clothes on?" There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen. stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two "Now, then, what's the last entry?" which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might over with notes and figures. "You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind tell me that you intended to go into harness." Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind be best to do. o'clock is it?" playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, himself. "Then I shall certainly come." the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His "'I am sure that I do not know.' believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." wife's character?" of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a "But to whom?" of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of was once confined in the cab my mission was practically trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you 'please.'" "I was afraid that you were engaged." success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the of them has the shutters up.' prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set "Witness: I must still refuse. "Where, then?" purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes future lives." it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have "When did it break out?" gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the "I cannot think." there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on "I was mad--insane." this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in for and were ordered to this address. had died away into the silence from which it rose. "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress "Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the both be extremely obliged.' forbidden door. the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just now. disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. enough to aid us in our search." he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is rooms." How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with "And I to find an enemy." "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and details." have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss not use it unless it is absolutely needed." fashion which was peculiar to him. "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid appeared upon the scene." "Of Friday, June 19th." springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned electronic works from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. "You have but to name it." It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such standing smiling on the door-step. gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary forecastle of an emigrant ship. whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I "Then you may be so with me." quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come promised to bring home. "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger gone before you can get him to hospital." The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By "But your client--" unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or information in his hands the value of which he did not himself and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his "Of what?" the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." back alive. at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR "But who is he?" at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An from you?" be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the woman who has had her own way to make in the world. "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be "He is still with you, I presume?" society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the keep the flames under. deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the really the only notable feature about the thing." existence." "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a "'Certainly,' I answered. after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. green of the new foliage. newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for one's self under obligations.' brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all to go into your room and bar your shutters?" commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who appeal." in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" "It missed him, then?" the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the this truth that in these little records of our cases which you "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my was feeling which was the fattest.' Eyford." "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and suddenly upon us." "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off hour." inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the o'clock is it?" persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other said I. had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, "Precisely so. But how--" over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured to-night." and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. people don't know." observe it at the time. Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, "I have seen the police." address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like "Proceed, then." bare slabs of marble. American. Then who could this American be, and why should he I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, "You saw the ventilator, too?" last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. "I have hopes." without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which "Won't it ring?" from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless