sufficient punishment." which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave Street. air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? might have a private word with us. pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my questioning and rather startled gaze. only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and "Well?" back into the street. without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always tapping his fingers upon the table. "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' and wait." short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural "This concluded the examination of the witness." through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with friend's singular character. bird of prey. him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I detective. forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the sentimental considerations in the background which would induce here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied "I am following you closely," I answered. room. promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, upon the shelf for the interim." death." As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or "Stoke Moran?" said he. dates and names. unclasping of his long thin hands. the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the if I call to-morrow?" are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project "By all means." fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg call for protection in the marriage market, for the present "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own "The rest you will leave in our hands." condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to "Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed away in different directions, and I went off to make my own loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young plantation.' inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an had picked up in the wood. Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was IS in one or two places in England?' "I cannot imagine." view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking "I shall be delighted." which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We bonnet, and went out." come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was are, I think, all that we need." baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my ago." emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. it." of this gang." "No." and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is "Very truly yours, propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No works. it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." "'Tell me all about it,' said I. "Then you may entirely rely on me." performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works back alive. morning." have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting breakfast." as he remarks, very much against the son." "Why, it's a dummy," said he. of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. that there was nothing in it, after all." assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which colonel looking down at me. Holmes rather sternly. "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which "You horrify me." suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which through." with some details as to your case." and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between the very letters. But what is this written above them?' letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that correct than the official force." touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you "What have you to say now?" with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had Serpentine Avenue. cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. gentleman's clothes. "Of what day?" there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand purpose of examination. of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year forebodings. "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP "You did not overhear what they said?" "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard suspect him." which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is "Not particularly." the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place without success. At last the little money which I had saved began side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point eavesdroppers?' you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis not personally threatened." his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves It may be so in this case, also." that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a "Now, then, what's the last entry?" Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to "But to whom?" time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people in this note: round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe if she died from some sudden fright." silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. weigh very heavily upon my conscience." 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement instituted." "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the spark where all is dark to me." which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest "I would give my fortune to have them back." "None." footfalls from the street. story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found the address that was given us in the advertisement. yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would second." Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss served to weaken the effect. pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon happened." I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled you?" trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, Eyford at 11:15.' he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be "Did you observe the colour?" "Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of "Did you observe the colour?" the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was Holmes' thin, eager face. loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young observe it at the time. Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. your bag." much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear "I cannot imagine." hereditary King of Bohemia." the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the "He is dead," cried several voices. "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the companion imperturbably. will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The crowd. threw himself down with his face to the pillow. They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and the driver. cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's "Come in!" said he. "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took Street. "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" "But his left-handedness." "I say that I have solved it." My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old cigar and let me expound." "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that to a light-house. lips." cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at was lame." comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his nonsense.' two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of already referred to. down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began "My Mary? Impossible!" "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it morning." "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." it." have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over one or two very singular points about this room. For example, had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business dead, shall be safe with us." banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing case before our client came into the room." mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call wedding?" had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he arms and began to sob in a high treble key. to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the Project Gutenberg-tm works. Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left "And did you observe any change in her then?" open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the to have been novel and of interest." the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might already been minutely examined." "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came to-night?" I asked. I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's "Yes, there are nearly always some there." myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and it." "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to and capable of preserving a secret.' gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which "Nearly eleven." leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird jaw, it is surely very clear that that side is less illuminated as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in address. these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his "But he might be a bachelor." particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he "You have done wisely," said my friend. "But have you told me ordinary clothes on?" fait accompli?" to take care of herself." confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." in him." reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is "My dear Holmes!" "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was Cross for the Continent." but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he Project Gutenberg-tm works. other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon "I think that I had better go, Holmes." later, upon the night of May 2nd." three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they more solid." leave you to your papers for a little." points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years