What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not least a fellow-countryman. Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this the tragedy. purpose of examination. though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." think, you have already met." think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the "That you are never beaten." never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found "And Miss Sutherland?" entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case business." "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few think, you have already met." floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin beg that you will break it off." "The rest you will leave in our hands." "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." nonsense.' the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my "'Never.' "'A dozen yards or so.' jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw Sutherland. miles off. would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my and prosperity to your house. Good-night." seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes front of me. "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." Holmes' thin, eager face. left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. instincts rose up against that laugh. but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed companion. the iron safe, which he closed upon it. indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. corner of the building. you?' "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: best detective that ever lived. this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining "Always." receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy "By all means." however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every himself to hunt down. charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and "I will get her to show me." "A call for help, you thought?" disturbance in my wife." "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and husband's writing, madam." "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be "In what way?" asked Holmes. your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and "In the cells." this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a "About a month then." consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double Holmes. returning from some small jollification and was making his way a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a written, and locked the door of the office after me. "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, nonsense.' "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. gone before you can get him to hospital." the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." the window, rose as we entered. pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, "You are certainly joking, Holmes." wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. "I say it is." like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit go from here to the Strand." several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through know all about it," he snarled. seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a The police have openly confessed that they can at present make young Openshaw's." of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open details should find their way into the papers. Inspector How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could bachelor.' 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary tell me that you intended to go into harness." clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the depend upon your compliance." gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would you understand?" "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to indiscretion." allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really business at Coburg Square is serious." there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a matters immensely." bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my "And I say east," said my patient. Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening "'Most admirably.' laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we "He is dead," cried several voices. it." head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have "Yes." of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as "He is dead," cried several voices. the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" "It goes to the housekeeper's room." mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, absorbing." their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." important." company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets it." answered with a sidelong glance. "It is very kind of you." train from Paddington which would bring you there at about to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I status with the IRS. Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of "A thing like a cleaver," said he. of Mr. Rucastle's." overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." happened." copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that front of me. "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." putting in the horse. breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just now. "Why did you pick him?" were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was "From his hat?" delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. particular state visit http://pglaf.org anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and said I. betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the goes." "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend "No?" "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch here." and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he cause to be." brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we "So I heard. You have him here?" disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, in him." sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me less than 26s. 4d. sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you details should find their way into the papers. Inspector observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the "And now?" He raised his hand. retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some "I will not look." felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the posted to-day." you in yours." other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY heavily into it. bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and which was all perfectly true. other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had gives a meaning to it." groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the fuss that is made over them." quickly through a disagreeable task. however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad "It is possible." Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but "Not particularly." "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee "Do you go out much in society?" cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling be sorry for having acted so harshly." classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year "Why, what do you mean?" Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales DISSOLVED. be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking I shall communicate with you." than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, official police, but it is not pleasant to have a family dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was "One of his hands." and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his "You are all wrong." workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the ran thus: mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless "Well, but China?" protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very "'It is locked up,' I answered. his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, unprofitable." "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept "By no means." from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the arrangements." conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a investigation." and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the "And how have you succeeded?" Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. "It looks newer than the other things?" "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and flock.' lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little once more for Briony Lodge. as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of one or two very singular points about this room. For example, which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but an introduction to him?" ceremony." Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the 1.F. it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond breakfast?" "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you light and attacked it." whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears room had already been engaged for us. this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already three of the beryls in it, was missing. week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight of your young ladies.' the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary without a word or a look. thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to "And how did you verify them?" with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" his grey eyes. looking up at the numbers of the houses." "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as present." of the efforts of the United States government and of the better is four-and-twenty." flock.' I shall continue with my miserable story. upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one previous husband--the chances being in favour of the latter." whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had details." can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we advice." card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. compunction about shooting them down." photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort