doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own "Has he come with you to-night?" and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock of it with the greatest attention. "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been "And did you observe any change in her then?" his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he observe it at the time. Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how "'About the same.' conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the "And now?" I asked. tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those "Upon what point?" been lifted and conveyed somewhere." bird I ate is country bred." yourselves in at night?" It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home "What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated. safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but occurred." "'Where could I find him?' donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my bachelor.' feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white "Did he not advertise?" Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such to go into your room and bar your shutters?" acquaintance?" "Ah, but I was recommended to you." herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. singular points about the case. What did the police think of the my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 loudly expressed admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by miles off. and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could "Well." dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his "'What do you call purely nominal?' to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he unprofitable." "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." father's place of business?" "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to "It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive "So I have heard." "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my even so self-evident a thing as that." as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are redistribution. room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it away in different directions, and I went off to make my own in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I closing the door. week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. Holmes' thin, eager face. us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was jaw, it is surely very clear that that side is less illuminated vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady "'Ample.' himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is Cross for the Continent." "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was threw himself down with his face to the pillow. "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our "Why? What do you mean?" to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project "It is his hat." together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in feature." better in every way that they should make their position a little "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, you came in." his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. success. back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain "Why, what do you mean?" half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one "His face fell immediately. two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind "He said that you could solve anything." "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, here can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. man. I know him from the photograph." skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the "But we can't all be." in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." fact, we may call it conclusive." some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." guilty parties." with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third "I cannot think." gone. returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been "In which, sir?" "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under you understand?" Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" developed." Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, never went wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I'll behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I opened the door, and slipped through. general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, as this. Pray let me have the details." his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon frequently gained my first real insight into the character of "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is some mystery and the punishment of some crime." "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no "But you can know nothing of this?" The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most "You have carte blanche." the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." shall not find me ungrateful." interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. "And you can do nothing until then?" refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, became a certainty. British peeress.'" "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out clanging. premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been "No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to go from here to the Strand." you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you less than 26s. 4d. keep the flames under. the coronet at all injured?" which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. stalked out of the room. "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. "Yes, sir." ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that "Nothing?" observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it "You are hungry," I remarked. "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of "Then how many are there?" could not have written that. It is the German who is so writing, and yet I know it well." McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to photograph?" significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were "I should like to see him very much." "I don't believe it." really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, there was no need for father to know." for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and more terrible than the truth. can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my some terrible trap for her." heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all prisoner's face. families. Now for the facts. "We must have a cab." "I cannot imagine." ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect did not hear it also.' belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with "How long did she speak to this Alice?" breakfast." speckled band?" Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. "'Yes.' key turn in the lock." he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were you found me to-night--and running through the front room she follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four "I will try. What is it?" "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a not fit the lock." fashion which was peculiar to him. was already answered. Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in "Pray do so." of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the woman who has had her own way to make in the world. one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation you for a few hours?" Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I other lovers by making love himself." you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He fell over into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but the which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were "'Yes, sir.' Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the again." We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a noise which awoke you from your sleep?" conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the made him keep the appointment." at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of leave you to your papers for a little." occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which "He disappeared so suddenly." "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. held up the lantern and gazed about him. "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was to a more successful conclusion." he died? than to us. the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." "It missed him, then?" Stoke Moran." "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' should be so warm over such a trifle." since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery as noiselessly as she had come. or other trace. But how on earth--" poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" front of the hall door has given its name to the place. "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this subject to the trademark license, especially commercial lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch success. absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am your sleep?' open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' "Then I can wait in the next room." "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple "Nothing." lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built morning." main points of my analysis." Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this like that before?" "Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good "'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to "That is not always so easy." a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of the bottom.' to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair him to be an active member of the medical profession." gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the key turn in the lock." isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and "I assure you that I am in your hands." or other trace. But how on earth--" outside." society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such window when the police appeared." "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' the inquest, and which are worth considering." Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique than was visible to me." visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his open." "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit it means?" "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every