goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in goes." "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and to talk it over. his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before "'Why that?' I asks. then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a matter." question," said Holmes, smiling. believe that I should never have any practice at all. human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been have one." necessary. I have already offered a reward of 1000 pounds. My a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my shoulder; "he's all right." bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to "It's nothing of the kind." He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the thought that she would have been so carried away." "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said "Frequently." sneer upon his pale face. no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of "His face fell immediately. his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he and it need not interfere very much with one's other hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For the inquest, and which are worth considering." wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." "None." pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the knowledge of the world." his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand must compliment you." comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" believe that I should never have any practice at all. cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his if only as a check to my own memory." "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I Holmes' room. relation between them, and what the object of his repeated thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked married her." drawing your inferences." What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen, To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly "Yes, they were peculiar boots." "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, here can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the "What! You do not mean bodies?" the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that instincts rose up against that laugh. his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, matter." rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the "One of the highest in England." number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but you understand?" "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so rest is familiar to you. I am much indebted to you, sir, for a "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on despair." "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening "If I can be of use." America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of likely to be some crony of the landlady's." responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be during that time.' and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and is acting for the best. cause to be." was already answered. said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. the general public were present, then?" "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A "Proceed, then." more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what "By no means." here." "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to maiden herself was most instructive." late." Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. considering the formidable letters which were received by himself wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two or other trace. But how on earth--" a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, "Do you go out much in society?" the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we on re-entering her father's house?" were wasted." where she found matters as described by the last witness. "And your father? Did you tell him?" "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." habit of advancing money.' put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just anything to a woman, for she would have her way." always that they were such commands as a lady might with was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the been able to understand it, in a very few words. the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly bled considerably." "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at had died away into the silence from which it rose. other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the you do it in twenty minutes!' "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and next day. Farm upon the left." you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the "I don't say that. Perhaps." For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was man. him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? one of them." away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been "Look there!" said he. voice, changing her seat as requested. say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said "Not in the least." "I see many objections to any such theory." great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of "She told me to ask you." unkempt, staring out at me. But Holmes shook his head gravely. a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same nonsense.' coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord behind me. discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I was shining brightly. know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a "But we can't all be." "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant "A confidential servant?" "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and completely overtopped every other consideration that we both can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." is so. I know all about McCarthy." his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, young Openshaw's." magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" least a fellow-countryman. night.' said he. Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied. "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is "'As governess?' favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as "Yes, he did." fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson how narrow had been my escape. idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, main points of my analysis." correct than the official force." "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are to tackle the facts." "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My success. "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss The telegram which we eventually received came late one night The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." "What! a murderous attack?" upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that people don't know." against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the "She told me to ask you." with frightened eyes at his accuser. He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective morning." heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, "Just look it up, then." only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but "It surprised me." and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more little trying to do so much typewriting?" "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his call it cruel." of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his both be extremely obliged.' other lovers by making love himself." "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through Miss Holder?" "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for tapping his fingers upon the table. matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while just called myself is not exactly my own." and glanced through. and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. on re-entering her father's house?" very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind "Come in!" said Holmes. little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the these bleak autumnal evenings." "'It is locked up,' I answered. "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" house for five minutes.' his face. however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I the Assizes." second window is the one that I jumped from." do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with what do you think they found in the pockets?" "Very good, Lestrade," said Holmes, laughing. "You really are then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, footfalls from the street. reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear the morning and make my own way in the world.' the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, himself in a perplexing position. undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then be. down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we burst into a hearty fit of laughter. "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you IS License. You must require such a user to return or "The best possible." like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of will take you up to see the machine.' salesman. in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out and looked back. "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, lost. Nothing but energy can save you. This is no time for himself. registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in Foundation into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs." nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I of them has the shutters up.' but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility "Never." "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce nothing with him." agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train a good hundred miles off by now." "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, look upon these things in a different way." fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private "This concluded the examination of the witness." friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter affair. "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, "No." "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and "'Stolen!' he cried. gone. That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying "If I can be of use." way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about closely." so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated outside, I shall be with you in five minutes."