Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known Leave Paddington by the 11:15." of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were "We were both in the photograph." upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the jewels which you have stolen?' grasp, he hurried from the room. "I hardly consider that a conclusive proof. Was the remainder of "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great "What then?" the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this of the way of danger. time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on "The Coroner: What do you mean? "Pray do so." "Yes, certainly." which was all perfectly true. The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door forebodings. loudly expressed admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. "Pray tell us what has happened to you." out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's clanging. why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been just ask you whether you had heard it.' meant it for the best. something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, "'What would be the hours?' I asked. a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off Cross for the Continent." first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of "Perfectly so." Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms Clair, of Lee." Munro.' his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the "Murdered?" caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite evidence," I remarked. I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and my little problems." lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to "Where, then, is my wife?" approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" "Pray do so." of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by my secret was safe in his possession. name is different." little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me some mystery and the punishment of some crime." jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," bachelor.' When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the you found me to-night--and running through the front room she Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that roused himself from his reverie. "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes "We have tried and failed." once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the of them has the shutters up.' something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly opened the door, and slipped through. every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." manager. There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited "'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain Shall be glad if you will come with me. Air and scenery perfect. other lovers by making love himself." cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the October 9, 1890. would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been hereditary King of Bohemia." mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. the house with me." this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I himself to hunt down. upon the white wrist. "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you was feeling which was the fattest.' yards of it?' occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me criminal. We have already had experience of such." never to learn it at all." down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have "But his left-handedness." "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in than was visible to me." are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal and capable of preserving a secret.' 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at completely overtopped every other consideration that we both the coronet in his hands?" Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of which our visitor detailed to us. but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On corner of the building. writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall American. Then who could this American be, and why should he enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project to have been novel and of interest." them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three wanted for ourselves." the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. existence." "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my your own bird, so if you wish--" could go. too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into their singular warning or token before them when starting upon am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." to have that photograph." "The decline of his fortunes, then?" "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." retorted upon me, and I on you." where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' "No, I think that I'll take it." him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her weighed down with some great anxiety. new duties?' in. "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended "Very well, sir. And this stone?" he bowed and left the room without another word. Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause "'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years breakfast." pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a into the room. wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman someone who had been in Australia." chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, "I have my revolver," said I. copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid dates and names. back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with there was no need for father to know." "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses "To ruin me." the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the prove to be little relation between the different incidents of mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another as noiselessly as she had come. "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying "Yes, the wine-cellar." violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my "I am still in the dark." the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are placed his cuttings. but preventing her from injuring another. Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle was already answered. be. Henry Baker is a member." said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with Have you good authority for what you say?" chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. take the flies, but not before." her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." your room." "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then obstinate." There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the instituted." "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the for the market.' this truth that in these little records of our cases which you Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a "'What, the red-headed man?' grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the populous neighbourhood." "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this "Certainly." WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. fattened it expressly for you.' of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, "Then the page we have seen--" did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, "'And the work?' offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it "No." servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible time." "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a "The King of Scandinavia." see me here to avoid scandal." appointment with me for six o'clock?" was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George conduct the inquiry." over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. fat-encircled eyes. crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have "Just look it up, then." were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' "Yes." Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar tension within him. and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as knowledge of the world." swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' would apply.' knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had "And it is--" "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was come either from the window or the door. My attention was "Is he quiet?" is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked Arthur Conan Doyle building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a "I will get her to show me." frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but "Your sister is dead, then?" her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge arms and began to sob in a high treble key. it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open I. touch that coronet?' As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are thought that she would have been so carried away." means taking possession of that which another person has a prior marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other "But I have heard all that you have heard." down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that Mary, has deserted me." wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my heavily into it. demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making to have been novel and of interest." learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of "It is true that I have been generally successful." very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the before, for it was considerably after midnight. relief. at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the business." humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as unkempt, staring out at me. instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking remarked. and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side the Red-headed League." and put his glass in his pocket. among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. and inquire as to the address." "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this "My last client of the sort was a king." asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying orange pips. go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots "He slept on the premises." suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, touch that coronet?' something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." straightened it out again. "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I Eyford." "But what harm can there be in that?" Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I