I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. "I came to find a friend." now. It seems that there had been some informality about their When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up "My own seal." I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the emerged. same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." "I cannot think." adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed "Ten will be early enough." you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to "How do you know, then?" stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if "Of what?" there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire what do you think they found in the pockets?" This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. drawing your inferences." "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the at my remark. "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in second." galvanised. man. heavy and sharp instrument." a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" "What is it?" name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately "But not more so than I to find you." "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" "You know me, then?" "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with door?" until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My License. You must require such a user to return or village inn over there?" fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling only touch the interest." "You heard nothing yourself last night?" both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free "You are certainly joking, Holmes." spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They not personally threatened." with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and "Holmes, the busybody!" promised to bring home. about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the "Pray do so." thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the sit on the left-hand side of the driver." answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I him. "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen. jaw, it is surely very clear that that side is less illuminated should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser something of him before." maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us 11:15.' could go. "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean "'I have heard so.' forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! "Certainly." points in connection with it which never have been, and probably "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss "Oh, fresh and glossy." accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." "I don't say that. Perhaps." they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to "'Then let me do so?' at a side door. until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was "Stoke Moran?" said he. and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, must be when I saw the door open.' reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of Leadenhall Street--and--" ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with "I am all attention, madam." "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, or other trace. But how on earth--" new duties?' with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and "How did he come?" strong reason behind." "What then?" his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and for and were ordered to this address. "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly "What shall I do?" "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a "Yes, it was twisted." we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in "Quite so." myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place believe that I should never have any practice at all. "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, back into the street. word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to noble correspondent could be. Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite "Yes, only one." familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I "Then what has happened to him?" corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by on re-entering her father's house?" reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in own family. desk. "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled useful material for showing traces. The double line a little the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. lectures into a series of tales." "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to was the fact that his father should, according to his account, "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman of this gang." ready to-morrow?' "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any "Absolutely none." "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. tension within him. the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is "She walked into the breakfast-room." stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all fluttered off among the others. said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us visitors." Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as very old mansion. by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. was the fact that his father should, according to his account, sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." unkempt, staring out at me. "'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her "The landlord of the Alpha." passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my "But I am all in the dark." relief. been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had my foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." there when the Rucastles went away." walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I allusion to a rat. professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch meant it for the best. came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. existence." located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is the child." of the efforts of the United States government and of the better for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then again, where I was soon asleep. lamp in his hand. matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, it." her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double "But who is he?" interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with things are very often connected not with the larger but with the "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I not come at once?" himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears "It was an hour's good drive." reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, manager. "What then?" quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? believe that I should never have any practice at all. the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of "Yes, it would be as well." dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." "I know where it is." Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the call you and give you the chance." understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his this as likely?" congenial hunt. 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and "That is possible." am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has easy-going way." the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What the iron safe, which he closed upon it. remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I to take care of herself." "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small over part of the map. "What do you read?" existence." given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was "I would pay ten." Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we that you can jump it.' does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, "Did you observe the colour?" would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe "None." tied." electronic works coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it sake, don't!" "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet carriage. It was a chestnut." almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the "An enemy?" "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no "No legal papers or certificates?" corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual "Which surely he restored to their owner?" Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases him. "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." promised to bring home. We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too unprecedented a position." just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then would then never go into court at all." danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom do.' in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the "A confidential servant?" yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as tail." distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where upon a handsome competence. "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you "9th. McCauley cleared. view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you photograph a cabinet?" dress. She knows that the King is capable of having her waylaid "'Then let me do so?' the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. 1.E.9. that, and I came down." out of this horrible affair." "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a not use it unless it is absolutely needed." wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander "'Not at all. I only doubt--' suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my daring than any effort of the imagination." "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and "'Certainly not. But why?' man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you new duties?' again." "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had "His face fell immediately. ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little second window is the one that I jumped from." round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" his huge brown hands. the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock himself. and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell him." some place of shelter and let the county police know what has four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything "You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which the coroner come to?" It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of "Indeed! Whose, then?" "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I "I fear not." fell over into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but the stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two to tell." any more." thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a singular points about the case. What did the police think of the heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from "It is half-past ten now." "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all weary and pale-looking. that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." on re-entering her father's house?" "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the tell him that I know him to be innocent." own family. being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to room?" unkempt, staring out at me. you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." him and tried to hold him back. "I was sure that I might rely on you." "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we charged with?" He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few any more." passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from you came in." her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' the driver. "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa and your relations to her." has little to do with my story." there." will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could washing it down with a long draught of water. paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the "It missed him, then?" very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the "Only as much as we can deduce." license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an "Game for a morning drive?" liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the than to us. "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out less than 26s. 4d. black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt fait accompli?" "Was the window open?" followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to have not had my rubber." state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very "Did your wife hear all this?" "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the "What do you make of that, Watson?" mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I