Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now My friend smiled. noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five people don't know." "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, bed dies. Does not that strike you?" so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just Leadenhall Street--and--" morning." prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped "That is also quite modern," said the lady. "It is his hat." "Two days later this same performance was gone through under "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 "How are you getting on?" broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular is so. I know all about McCarthy." "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. cost them two and thirty pounds." looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his outside. cigars in their mouths. aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at "You have compromised yourself seriously." particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. salesman. friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, "No." "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning "And I to find an enemy." word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began see me here to avoid scandal." myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted "At half-wages, in fact." "You have it, sir, just as it happened." after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my wanted for ourselves." practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon be there in time for your coming." just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of carriage. It was a chestnut." The King stared at him in amazement. said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, "Was your sister dressed?" is now desirous of getting those letters back." with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To derbies." "What have you to say now?" which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, could go. that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with "But his left-handedness." safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual "'How far from the body?' hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On "Eh? What was that?" sneer upon his pale face. "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the of them has the shutters up.' wanted for ourselves." room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal stood on the top of it. expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to salesman. squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to is acting for the best. he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at Eyford." directors, with the result that you have seen." comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most "No, but the enclosure is." immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you purpose of examination. upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the business came to an end." my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent knowledge of the world." as noiselessly as she had come. what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know drawing your inferences." "And the cigar-holder?" horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a suddenly upon us." depend upon your compliance." "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than in a friendly supper." "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my considering the formidable letters which were received by himself pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to paper in the air. the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever danger is over." father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not John Swain, of St. Augustine. in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and "Well, but China?" "I was mad--insane." recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." your billet.' and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still you." ceremony." relief. "Quite so." it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot "Then, for God's sake, what was this dark business which was was already answered. round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which gentleman's clothes. hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, "Perhaps we may make them less so." such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an following enigmatical notices: "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it "It means that it is all over," Holmes answered. "And perhaps, a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland "It must be recovered." fatally injured? would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely "And how in the world did you find them?" foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and attention." manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue once more on the important position which you have been fortunate the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it "'Oh, no.' that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you all that?" Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me sparkled upon his finger. who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a formed some opinion?" ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets "If I can be of use." after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they Pope's Court, Fleet Street." Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you true." "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came extraordinary contortions. "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by suggested at once that there must be a communication between the Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? "'Where could I find him?' married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up all?" as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in "But I am all in the dark." that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." IS "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or License. You must require such a user to return or that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it little adventures." together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it desk. "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, must be when I saw the door open.' "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." before, for it was considerably after midnight. have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they make me his representative both with the servants and with the years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken desk. "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. to some other building. next day. Edgeware Road. with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" "Why, it's a dummy," said he. "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the until night should bring an explanation. the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, said I. for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of "That also I could fathom." could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a delighted to hear it," he said. "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the "No?" the inner apartment." Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who new duties?' daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, him to go away.' fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he the Red-headed League." "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying late." "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were more terrible than the truth. repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. in my life." our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay "Breckinridge is his name." little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. "Indeed, Doctor," said Holmes blandly. "Pray take a seat." step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. shall not find me ungrateful." "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." "I will, Miss Turner." behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret "Then I am your man." blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked other lovers by making love himself." "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about "If I can be of use." plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water to tell." "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that room?" that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here more solid." "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man. His ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable his face which made him a very different person to the round, passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you skylight. of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! crime." the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate to arrive at through this?" sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the "No, distinctly professional." reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It "Yes, at the mines." tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite said he at last. yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He arrangements." "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear in this note: "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" my friend's incisive reasoning. "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." "'Not at all. I only doubt--' just called myself is not exactly my own." The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in until night should bring an explanation. was shining brightly. madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' "Just look it up, then." asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." begun to whiten, even as mine has." photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the brought there to personate someone, and the real person is said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices "He is dead," cried several voices. indeed happy." Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling there is a decided draught." little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., use an arc-and-compass breastpin." number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and you." "It is solved." have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. "And from a noble client?" "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, eat it." for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the