gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I Young McCarthy must be got off, however." imbecility!" he cried. freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. the ceiling. the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of comes from the middle window." assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not "How long did she speak to this Alice?" the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or must compliment you." the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no prove to be little relation between the different incidents of on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do friends, not even his own brother. twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid "'No, I know no one in these parts.' after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't Leave Paddington by the 11:15." was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk "How long did she speak to this Alice?" eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can been lifted and conveyed somewhere." merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining seen the man in the road." "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little "Pray continue your narrative." I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. "Very murderous indeed." should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near there in twenty minutes." "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." carried out of court." to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each charge against him will break down." - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." Have you good authority for what you say?" more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major it with his own hands." position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it "One of the highest in England." recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess colonel looking down at me. copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they "Married! When?" son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of passage and a tap at the door. pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the records." "But how did you gain them?" he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed "Why did you pick him?" front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at foot. was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly "But how did you gain them?" them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is evidence," I remarked. "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had your most interesting statement." upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we extraordinary contortions. turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided country, and eventually married, without anyone having a fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still treasure which we had under our roof, suppressing only the name tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing gentleman's clothes. the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. have an American origin." compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE My friend smiled. you found me to-night--and running through the front room she through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was "No, I had a dozen." any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our "Did you observe the colour?" Stoke Moran." "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and late!' "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." "Certainly." one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a Pope's Court. "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." "Dirty?" Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell the stable lane now." "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he been with you?" was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman that, and I came down." He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out British peeress.'" "Very well, sir. And this stone?" One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a rather more to my taste than Italian or French. It is "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss passage and a tap at the door. size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have me have 200 pounds?' watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" the matter." smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' cannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest sound at heart." subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing along the entire front of the house, with three long windows with some details as to your case." really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY things are very often connected not with the larger but with the "How did he come?" the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered them, and came down just as you departed. push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last "We were both in the photograph." very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, "To the police?" disturbance in my wife." convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow was already answered. purpose of examination. been shamefully used." child?' Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was Arthur Conan Doyle 'I should be able to look after that for you.' bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." my foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle advice." "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, of his shoulders. whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better "I cannot think." maid will bring up your coffee." and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling sake, don't!" She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. letters?" rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so Pool. point our research must commence, and we will begin it by Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed "The best possible." confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge Good-afternoon, Miss Stoner. You see that we have been as good as strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle both be extremely obliged.' beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned "But I am all in the dark." ordinary clothes on?" any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good Project Gutenberg-tm works. order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss Lestrade of Scotland Yard." more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged shag which I had seen upon the previous night. International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his "I am all attention, madam." have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in "What then?" logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were where we are going." "It is half-past ten now." peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker was not a bird to be seen there. crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. maid will bring up your coffee." traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the "How on earth--" smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards the Friday. Was it to be in church?" introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, wanted for ourselves." down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never "I should wish to." nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes the date of his supposed suicide." power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George "I cannot tell." her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted "May I see it?" introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" "I see many objections to any such theory." that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' "To an end?" believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his "Where did you address your letters, then?" my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the "What are they?" "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." "What have you to say now?" happened." remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" will not take me long to tell. side. arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel question," said Holmes, smiling. customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in morning." invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to vault. higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I "My dear Holmes!" quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will correct than the official force." second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian that you wished to speak to me?' near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless "The landlord of the Alpha." brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the "Then you may entirely rely on me." his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it "Then, as to money?" The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary for its centre. and prosperity to your house. Good-night." lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked corner of the building. "'And the work?' distinguish the words: send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and "And how have you succeeded?" fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which so.' was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you not within a twentieth part of the market price." perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of "When did it break out?" "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? for its centre. "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his "A confidential servant?" Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you this Miss Turner." he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came "It was an hour's good drive." apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the nothing with him." "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this "Where to?" beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" "I assure you that I am in your hands." British barque "Sophy Anderson", of the singular adventures of the villagers almost as much as their master. against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, "Just look it up, then." you give your casting vote to?" "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body Farm upon the left." Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H his cane at the bell-pull. as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United this as likely?" from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled client, rising. sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what introspective fashion. "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. "Of Friday, June 19th." actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her swore that no one else had been in the front room during the compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I side. crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may "That also I could fathom." nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made his eyes and forehead. "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that