that I am arrested." From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I "Ha! you find it so?" other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's My friend smiled. all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can "BALLARAT." have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present But Holmes shook his head gravely. was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in and looked back. "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of Dr. Gregory B. Newby "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the Doctor, of the paper and the date." "Where is it, then?" use an arc-and-compass breastpin." sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no "I cannot imagine." envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." "She told me to ask you." lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable nights." screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I 'I should be able to look after that for you.' How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that "The knees of his trousers." "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I a very grave face. conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the awkward doing business with an alias." "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good "And you don't know his address?" reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. think that he is innocent?" evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they this poor creature." manager. sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice "But you can know nothing of this?" weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so "'I have heard so.' often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the "Then I shall certainly come." time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some "Then what has happened to him?" to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no your sleep?' "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that "You know me, then?" reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I "'I have already given you my word.' black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open "What can you not understand?" Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing "And who is her maid?" 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my mysterious end." would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a when your master had gone out." 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots to affect your life." it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush where we are going." to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking "But she will refuse." like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the written. said he. "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his "My last client of the sort was a king." follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father "And how did he make his money?" point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always unclasping of his long thin hands. Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. "Tired-looking or fresh?" from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring crackling voice. throat." "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and "'Most admirably.' the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and to miss it." the coronet at all injured?" for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole "'Very good.' during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain Holmes' room. magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would might help us?" the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his "Yes, there are nearly always some there." "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been outsides of the windows. though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately Holmes." wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go important." who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called that the gas is not laid on in his house?" and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of head. So long, then!" always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical "But how?" total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and "Then what has happened to him?" the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable it." 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of "'And what salary do you ask?' know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap "Where, then?" "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of way: are windows in it, of course?" it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than where she found matters as described by the last witness. mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see "And why?" "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And not as remarkable as your advertisement." starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do "By no means." "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest Where does the thing come from?' exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that said he, "my real name is James Ryder." more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong have established a very serious case against the son of the that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from with her." uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with Project Gutenberg-tm works. "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking "No, my brougham is waiting." and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" despaired of." the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure the inquest, and which are worth considering." shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that instincts rose up against that laugh. "I shall be delighted." The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the gigantic client. he. in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he "No." tell me that you intended to go into harness." "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt one of the states of the Union." dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and see me here to avoid scandal." This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a least a most suspicious remark." "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised careless servant girl?" somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we done what I asked you, Jones?" save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts London for the present?" It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much read it out to me." "None." of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed "When did it break out?" "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" more solid." "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my "Ah!" infinite languor in his face. and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird "An accident, I presume?" will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and "No more words. Get out!" who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." "That also I could fathom." insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No me, and I could not think that his explanation of the where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To how narrow had been my escape. "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a third from London." across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy that he was averse to a marriage with so charming a young lady as summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." and capable of preserving a secret.' "That is easily got." "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler." us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My of your young ladies.' "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom the tragedy. don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, cigars in the box." not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to how narrow had been my escape. interested in these little problems, and since you are good from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I and no precautions can guard against." were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't know all about it," he snarled. just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to You can understand that this register and diary may implicate to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very corner of the building. ceremony." "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can "I will do it." process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have before, for it was considerably after midnight. withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want me what he had done with the three missing stones. became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small business in the City. She little knew what. cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may "'Certainly not.' I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project newspaper selections." has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, business in the City. She little knew what. air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the answered with a sidelong glance. without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' colour had been driven from his face. the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, me what he had done with the three missing stones. in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, believe that I should never have any practice at all. avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't questionable one." "Witness: It was. her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the Holmes. resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by your co-operation." process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day "And how did you verify them?" I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands "'Where to?' which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward your only hope of safety." As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw himself. "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey fire. You quite follow me?" tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up entirely lost his self-respect." rather more to my taste than Italian or French. It is "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless "'And what salary do you ask?' "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" likely to be some crony of the landlady's." traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I The police have openly confessed that they can at present make "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said I. the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but "9th. McCauley cleared. "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in official police." mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry o'clock is it?" "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was back into the street. round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to "'Which dealer's?' ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." "I could hardly believe my ears. As you may observe, Mr. Holmes, forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses "Nothing?" I have it here in my museum."