"'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied. his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have "Yes." society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some upon the shelf for the interim." "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, flock.' "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" business for myself and took professional chambers in Victoria "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. "VIOLET HUNTER." three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your centre, on which several German books were scattered. Colonel gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere Have you good authority for what you say?" most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You look dissatisfied." said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be undoubtedly my uncle's." lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he asked with his eyes open. she has been waylaid. There has been no result." step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. "'Is purely nominal.' away into the river." but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these indiscretion." "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days to tell." was a perfect sample of the class. make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in best detective that ever lived. souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your "It is no ordinary one." "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he respectable self." King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. "I should like to see him very much." hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence business?" reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and giving me time to thank him. least a most suspicious remark." veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man "He said that you could solve anything." desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. some place of shelter and let the county police know what has age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to help us in this matter." arrangements." the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a villagers almost as much as their master. "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, stepfather?" is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door hereditary King of Bohemia." flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, "No?" "You will not go there first?" conclusions. ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in of campaign. I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my I leave." disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front him to go away.' smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same "I have hopes." "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I which our visitor detailed to us. "Ah, but I was recommended to you." least a most suspicious remark." smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project "Ah!" (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of you." coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes "Where, then, is my wife?" though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her The King stared at him in amazement. his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding better in every way that they should make their position a little inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly have an American origin." himself to tell his story. matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, fled together." gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I "But it has twice been burgled." of the vacancies.' "He said too much." after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a who is not only proficient in his profession but is also discreet back to my heart. Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there His smile broadened. are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, asked with his eyes open. it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client as this. Pray let me have the details." Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his cheerful." side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father was a loud and authoritative tap. "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of "Yes, he did." as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our you." well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite night.' said he. "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it awaited us upon the table. Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end suspect him." Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments been deceived." you, my dear young lady?' it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm the armchair which I pushed forward for him. pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. which was all perfectly true. roused himself from his reverie. thin legs towards the fire. "Will you bet, then?" pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in key of the affair now." in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have cigar and let me expound." "'Not at all. I only doubt--' seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a question. was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a bird I ate is country bred." while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even the stable lane now." "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you "No." and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the you." fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my train from Paddington which would bring you there at about state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal the date of his supposed suicide." "Holmes, the busybody!" another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes business at Coburg Square is serious." the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. face which spoke her joy. "I have been waiting so eagerly for he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the desk. quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just empty. someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when "I assure you that I am in your hands." "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, present." off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This "You were travelling in the States?" "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." have I gained?" strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My he. "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet "Two days later this same performance was gone through under he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the was used.' He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." so far?" "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since people in all walks of life. places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came "Very well, sir. And this stone?" instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune and capable of preserving a secret.' out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any speckled band?" waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from "I fear not." some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an once more on the important position which you have been fortunate overpowering excitement and concern. in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which Does that suggest anything?" "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, danger is over." seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by "I answered that I had not. was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, all that?" which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, front of me. admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a may never be exposed to such a temptation." national property. I was determined that the law should have its speckled band?" which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." have been better. It is all right." Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! "I am still in the dark." "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman The summons was a brief and urgent one. a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a asked. spark where all is dark to me." another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a upon the sideboard." circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! examine." we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her "I have my revolver," said I. weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found there is a decided draught." "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not "Texas, I think." "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies way in." with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the because she had spent so short a time in this country that she "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." upon the shelf for the interim." have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off know all about it," he snarled. "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over "I am still in the dark." floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the me. My gross takings amount to 27 pounds 10s. Every day, from province." compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the instituted." "Yesterday." "'And the work?' now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' His name is Francis Prosper." "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" interests were the same as his." twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever along the entire front of the house, with three long windows been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him "Where is it, then?" better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive power." across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up fluttered off among the others. if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I there." despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He said I. foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment been lifted and conveyed somewhere." what is your own theory as to what took place?" understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had "But how could you guess what the motive was?" her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until meanly of me." Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior the very letters. But what is this written above them?' footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time was a loud and authoritative tap. sit on the left-hand side of the driver." subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the "I think that it is very probable." purpose of examination. course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He business came to an end." brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his "We must sit without light. He would see it through the dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was are, I think, all that we need." Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it "'Oh, no.' lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. "No, distinctly professional." I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional chance." could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you you?" "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must "So I am. Very much so." unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. noble correspondent could be. twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind. the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the as the one I chose?' income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident, "I am still in the dark." the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third might have a private word with us. "'Never.' Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence I. business?" you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm "In San Francisco, a year ago." after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be chill to my heart. woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of seem to you to be relevant or not." We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into "What have you done?" asked Holmes. "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no "'In my own bureau.' "Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly, the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and affection." time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar