He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia have one." "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." "Imitated." that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed Leadenhall Street--and--" "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was "Well, but China?" "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." in one or two places in England?' "Was she in good spirits?" "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. never came back." appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the to miss it." most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one now. It seems that there had been some informality about their knowledge of the world." "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause "I think that it is very probable." in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. "Yes." pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would imbecility!" he cried. flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is she to prove their authenticity?" "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. quite distinctive." me upon any point which I do not make clear." absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of detective. "On your arm?" light and attacked it." felt the room to be a little close.' singular points about the case. What did the police think of the reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the Sutherland?" over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of front of me. papers." few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a wife's character?" into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I arrested. You then--" both be extremely obliged.' be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he became a certainty. servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so "Certainly, madam." to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let "I cannot as yet see any connection." there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady was feeling which was the fattest.' If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project "No. What a strange idea!" day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when tied." have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and "'You cannot say what it was?' providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, anything to do with the matter?" I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism Surrey." and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside situation." "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened "No, my brougham is waiting." "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called would apply.' of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive "To an English lawyer named Norton." arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned in the hope of finding them." "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." "I have my revolver," said I. submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs sufficient punishment." are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, You want to know what became of those geese?" envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All "Yes." accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally about. was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind humiliation." Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke right! Sit down and let us talk it over." "Come in!" said he. I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl works. way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a like that before?" little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy "'And what are they worth?' I asked. "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from in this note: have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my few hundred pounds.' carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," tell him that I know him to be innocent." When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be we went to search for him, face downward in a little "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and situation." Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. British peeress.'" money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I "My dear Holmes!" "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in strode off upon his way. have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." one which it was hard to resist. "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little this truth that in these little records of our cases which you although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the persecution?" is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable there in twenty minutes." had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he spare." what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin The King stared at him in amazement. to-night?" I asked. to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding The King stared at him in amazement. glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make "The Coroner: What do you mean? my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his been with you?" shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew "What shall I do?" photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the "Was she in good spirits?" "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but himself to tell his story. visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you again." and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits gone. once more to my work. well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying "You will not go there first?" "When did it break out?" Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." "Then I do not see the point." and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front once more for Briony Lodge. was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." or other trace. But how on earth--" door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point "The vanishing of the lady." inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. "You saw the ventilator, too?" Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport "It is a murder, then?" hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On said he. his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white been." who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the "Yes." He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think "You were travelling in the States?" the inner apartment." "And leave your case unfinished?" "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would "If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man out the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so papers diligently of late, have you not?" "Your sister is dead, then?" "'What, the red-headed man?' "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which lids now and glanced across at his visitor. "Not in a good cause." "They are typewritten," I remarked. following enigmatical notices: "Pray continue your narrative." learned something! Where are the gems?" at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to than to us. just called myself is not exactly my own." I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with outbreak?" received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," "You think that he is dead?" would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop searched, without anything being found which could incriminate "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic second window is the one that I jumped from." iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended throat." such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't towards the blaze. grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" Farm upon the left." "My stepfather's business papers." "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we writing, and yet I know it well." caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in some mystery and the punishment of some crime." "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so note?" back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a dramatic, in fact." Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most "Certainly." chance." "Nearly eleven." "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who relation between them, and what the object of his repeated would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at arms and began to sob in a high treble key. had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your use an arc-and-compass breastpin." front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for "But I am all in the dark." out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch handed it to him. even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would politicians who had been sent down from the North. can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this "Upon what point?" Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea noble correspondent could be. though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman "Then, how do you know?" "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect miles off. the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the "Why, what do you mean?" held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just one or two very singular points about this room. For example, roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place shoulder. What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered noting anything else of interest. return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and "Where, then?" "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel "Quite so. She has her freedom." "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having children over to America with him, so that I found myself without makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the seem to you to be relevant or not." frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features be there in time for your coming." abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square "Her father is very rich?" state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in galvanised. the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is skylight.