"I say it is." who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was here and I will read it to you: "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did searched, without anything being found which could incriminate "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She "No?" "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a "The Coroner: What do you mean? feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At singular points about the case. What did the police think of the going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now the running down." on in his house." business came to an end." "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said with you?" across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing he bowed and left the room without another word. police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. straightened it out again. be there in time for your coming." signal between you and your father? Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is "It certainly sounds feasible." like that before?" rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There "When did it break out?" with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to of Fenchurch Street." whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay rose-bushes. rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY "Has he come with you to-night?" Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of be sorry for having acted so harshly." not personally threatened." violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror advice." you?' spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. question. of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody burst into a hearty fit of laughter. "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself away in different directions, and I went off to make my own and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the "I am in hopes that she does." It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she colour had been driven from his face. "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, "And that is--" pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the remarked. "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to "Only as much as we can deduce." villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a his face. once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in tied." saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." is," said he presently: it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my and prosperity to your house. Good-night." There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited "I cannot think." he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, place, I think that there is good ground to think that the words came to my lips. which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all may have an influence upon European history." hereditary King of Bohemia." better in every way that they should make their position a little that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly of Fenchurch Street." infinite languor in his face. the coronet in his hand?" with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug country, and eventually married, without anyone having a came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him gigantic client. shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by "Not yet." out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a if she died from some sudden fright." column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same believe that I should never have any practice at all. the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. "Entirely." things are very often connected not with the larger but with the in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out constraint." noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if ready to-morrow?' throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The one or two very singular points about this room. For example, point in the dark hollow of his hand. "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. from you?" demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for papers diligently of late, have you not?" story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings "Never." interest. They are important, you understand, without being the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning to have that photograph." visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the "The murder was done with it." Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence "No more words. Get out!" this Miss Turner." leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her placed his cuttings. the dangers which encompass me." purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there "Did your wife hear all this?" face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read "'Ten to two.' Does that suggest anything?" 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." Watson," he said cordially. word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of bird of prey. cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. emerged. the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his golden eyeglasses. "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which nice household for a young lady." cigars in the box." "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no standing smiling on the door-step. Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well amused." fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we of the one which your family is now devouring." "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was never to learn it at all." "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall "Who was the criminal, then?" you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing were unconscious?" "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At "'And what salary do you ask?' "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to over his head with a sweet womanly caress. give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little take the flies, but not before." she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am "It missed him, then?" I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She views." the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. ways of our fellow-men." 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. he. business?" "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who "Well, at least," said Holmes, "you have had your revenge upon study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature "Well, it is a possible supposition." remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such business matters.' playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. wanted for ourselves." go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' "Where to?" rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I this poor creature." the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature "Your sister is dead, then?" as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small "Eh? What was that?" web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project "And why?" was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable cheerful." the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. man. essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us The summons was a brief and urgent one. that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, "'You cannot say what it was?' white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the "What will you do, then?" for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the Eyford at 11:15.' points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your our word." THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE "Yes, sir." those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots I. Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the "Have you her photograph?" "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to gigantic client. case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock look upon these things in a different way." "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. characteristics, but those are the more obvious." doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but heavily into it. wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal it right.' money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what "'Not at all. I only doubt--' was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the "'Yes, I promise.' "In San Francisco, a year ago." puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside awaited us upon the table. thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The character. wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable shall use the carriage to-night." then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, "And you thought he was pulled back?" Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you the night.' the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it heavily into it. lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, recall any case within my experience which looked at the first thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress salesman. jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each him. I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a the Assizes." a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a me. My gross takings amount to 27 pounds 10s. Every day, from out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the said he. adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and and I shall be with you presently." London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your "My stepfather's business papers." it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it The telegram which we eventually received came late one night putting in the horse. "In the cells." akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss vault. from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those pierced for earrings?" accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his tell him that I know him to be innocent." during that time.' "Never." "'Where to?' benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the things are very often connected not with the larger but with the brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been "But of what society?" Holmes. "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the possible that we could bring him back to her? remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first second window is the one that I jumped from." and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we "Did he not advertise?" them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice their singular warning or token before them when starting upon quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up do you make of it all?" kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback meant." sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the for securing the situation." overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know other, as fresh and trim as possible. "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of before the coroner and the police-court." word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the depend upon your compliance." the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the never to learn it at all." I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and my foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very wedding?" observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a "But I am all in the dark." Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant entirely lost his self-respect." have had none more fantastic than this." "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." the child." who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up