investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a chair. "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, "I cannot say that I have." de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so "You heard nothing yourself last night?" know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. think that any burglar could have done. paper in the air. and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was events, Mr. Windibank!" safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept over here." have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up that you wished to speak to me?' put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." strong reason behind." road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan "What I expected to see." the roots. His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of said he. have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was disturbance in my wife." "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. swore that no one else had been in the front room during the "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for even of instruction." confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I I approached. scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin "'I am sure that I do not know.' collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident, drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new already been minutely examined." been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her it were putty." and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent at a side door. Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly asked with his eyes open. terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked "Then you may entirely rely on me." "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before "I hardly consider that a conclusive proof. Was the remainder of laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry which was all perfectly true. counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with question. research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded murdered man." deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his foresight and the moral retrogression?" the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect direction." "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton later, upon the night of May 2nd." homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a Arthur Conan Doyle in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise "No bad?" continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a "'A dozen yards or so.' considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." brain must have something in it." me. ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which grasp, he hurried from the room. prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which into the bag, and made for the door. "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. envelope. from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the voice, changing her seat as requested. latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in me." "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet "His face fell immediately. "No." think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by business in the City. She little knew what. The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag have an American origin." professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in unprofitable." "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into "What then?" "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of she slowly sank and died without having recovered her The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate you." "No, I am descending." pound a week." public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this public press." "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the away to you." that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the easy-going way." then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the you for a few hours?" Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, sound at heart." "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." "Stolen." sooner or later she must fall a victim. newspaper selections." "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as "It was a confession," I ejaculated. jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to "No, but the enclosure is." north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, once more to my work. would then never go into court at all." strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" "The decline of his fortunes, then?" "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." "It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. problems help me to do so." the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our night.' said he. premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was window, cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again But Holmes shook his head gravely. "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." "Not in the least." deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door views." hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" question. way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one "So I have heard." "What do you make of that, Watson?" disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, in a friendly supper." held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was what I may call a really hard day's work." "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. the so-precious time, but come!' be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always in my life." doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? front of me. Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a something of him before." window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they "An accident, I presume?" blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the quickly through a disagreeable task. a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which "What is it?" he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a possible that we could bring him back to her? the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" death." "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he "Precisely." young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet outside." held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when morning." you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." and effective." I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that over part of the map. "What do you read?" very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away IS Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent a little more before I quite committed myself. friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was in the dead of the night?' individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are delighted to hear it," he said. The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a cigar and let me expound." of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an bearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with south, for the country is more deserted there." surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain "In which, sir?" two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in "Yes." do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my shall use the carriage to-night." reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying do.' written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. "'I am sure if I had known--' but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to strode off upon his way. "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What desk. I shall communicate with you." coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective "We must have a cab." "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen she slowly sank and died without having recovered her "I will get her to show me." constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to and looked back. "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that "I think that it is very probable." smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, into her hand at the door and which lured her within their town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon "It is no ordinary one." drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent to that open window." invisible to me," I remarked. "I would pay ten." one else, I think." nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well the driver. seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who "How do you know, then?" been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" "'Yes, it was gone.' Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg there were one or two details which were new to me. But the considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that conversation I have gathered that they have been married about The telegram which we eventually received came late one night "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't did not hear it also.' come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a intrusion of other matters." "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the his eyes and forehead. Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few "Have you it here?" and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property "Were they all fastened this morning?" him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little leave you to your papers for a little." edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From late." "I shall most certainly do so." harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." threw himself down with his face to the pillow. passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon place no limit on the sum I may draw." lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when spark where all is dark to me." and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If man. We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so "What can you not understand?" The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord to go into your room and bar your shutters?" spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back Eyford." distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. "That also I could fathom." went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK and laid it on the table. "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. wedding?" peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and until night should bring an explanation. here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, "Pray be precise as to details," said he. do.' case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange "'Certainly not. But why?' he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself "What then?" "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the that?' arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down "It is half-past ten now." This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of "Will you go?" Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in "Pray continue your narrative." the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society carriage. It was a chestnut." town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon