"One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and existence." south, for the country is more deserted there." and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It you came in." "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the here." either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at ordinary clothes on?" without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand burst into a hearty fit of laughter. villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of awkward doing business with an alias." certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. brain must have something in it." hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous both be extremely obliged.' this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." back to my heart. sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me "I should wish to." must compliment you." other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I Pope's Court. dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." some city in a dream. there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the "But what harm can there be in that?" introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" had picked up in the wood. have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question nothing of it?" "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and answer." waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred "But how?" One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not ashen face. "Witness: Nothing definite. meant." probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back October 9, 1890. quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about future lives." "This concluded the examination of the witness." Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand into the room. brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. gone before you can get him to hospital." making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the on in his house." "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard "About a month then." sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from "You have compromised yourself seriously." his interest. Lestrade, being rather puzzled, has referred the Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. dramatic, in fact." LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense "I should wish to." second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I my room." drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll conversation I have gathered that they have been married about along the entire front of the house, with three long windows seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow to me. was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, front of the hall door has given its name to the place. "My stepfather's business papers." walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the the south-west, I see." "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my "More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away "My dear Holmes!" chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him held up the lantern and gazed about him. events, Mr. Windibank!" first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is I took the paper from him and read as follows: done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the "I saw her in conversation with her maid." the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, From what you have told me I think that it is possible that "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and my former friend and companion. away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to fell over into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but the pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was fact, we may call it conclusive." 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and of the efforts of the United States government and of the better door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for few hundred pounds.' "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. voice, changing her seat as requested. ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The to that open window." death." particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been "It is a murder, then?" where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of "And who is her maid?" learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been writer." it with his own hands." front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in your troubles." whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and quarrel broke out, which was increased by the two guardsmen, who fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who "Stolen." events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I "What will you say?" be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or hereditary King of Bohemia." bled considerably." ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. "I am armed." "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, a room. considering the formidable letters which were received by himself the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind shaken than I had ever seen him. to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most lost. Nothing but energy can save you. This is no time for George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the mysterious end." place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every seen the man in the road." The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something "That is unusual in a young girl." most interesting one." dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that "It is a murder, then?" more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my "But what is it you wish?" "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking pity, because in other respects you would really have done very here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his "I have solved it." remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and Pope's Court, Fleet Street." to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more "But I am all in the dark." waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered indiscretion." eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of "You are hungry," I remarked. of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, Serpentine Avenue. "I think that it is very probable." "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two Eyford." reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but bled considerably." that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. "What office?" Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who "What then?" three of the beryls in it, was missing. I held the little printed slip to the light. confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." place of silver." "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I "My stepfather's business papers." morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is have had none more fantastic than this." "'And the work?' and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you papers must be those that are destroyed.' "A confidential servant?" "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of the south-west, I see." understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror the very morning of the wedding." "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you of the efforts of the United States government and of the better is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery anything to do with the matter?" the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the means taking possession of that which another person has a prior moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some exactly what you advise." down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" The King stared at him in amazement. hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he fled together." "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said "An enemy?" mysterious end." that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and companion imperturbably. see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and be there in time for your coming." acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something him to be an active member of the medical profession." to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen towards the blaze. idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg should be taken.' swore that no one else had been in the front room during the speckled band?" august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of "Thank you. Pray proceed." Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to back to my heart. all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new tension within him. my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her true." "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." shaken than I had ever seen him. case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the "But what will you do?" makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an fait accompli?" headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his your co-operation." appointment with me for six o'clock?" I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. one or two very singular points about this room. For example, "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof DAMAGE. feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We before the coroner and the police-court." room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by run away and explain afterwards. I hadn't been at the table ten The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It "No, finished." very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon "We have tried and failed." "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some "Married! When?" had a long day." as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. following enigmatical notices: understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too highroad, where all traces were lost. so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these before the coroner and the police-court." instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told morning." confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those tear off another piece?' stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father writers could invent nothing more crude." Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew look dissatisfied." begun to whiten, even as mine has." him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his "Who was the criminal, then?" dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little "But how did you gain them?" for and were ordered to this address. as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a waiting for him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be "You did not overhear what they said?" coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on "'I have heard so.' St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at charge against him will break down." about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than wedding?" step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is cause to be." "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. "What steps will you take?" I asked. came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, "Not social, then?" this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the "Thank you. Pray proceed." the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg the iron safe, which he closed upon it. the warnings." late." am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute "'Stolen!' he cried. upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the derbies." fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm "Not in the least." corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of narrative." our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, "Texas, I think."