as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his "What then?" "Nothing?" that threaten you." man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. Cross for the Continent." "Yes, there are nearly always some there." thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, dear old homesteads?" laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, people in all walks of life. "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. "My dear Holmes!" My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and "That you are never beaten." have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon and inquire as to the address." Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and together. "It is true that I have been generally successful." Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and fact, we may call it conclusive." very different level to your Majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am geese which you supplied to the Alpha." felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your late!' reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first fear." the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the you for a few hours?" charge against him will break down." in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. strength of mind to control. II. what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in again, where I was soon asleep. (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" Street. go back?" "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a was feeling which was the fattest.' line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. said he. over here." occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your "I will, Miss Turner." retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that to Leatherhead. The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and father's young wife. to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are individual and becomes the badge of a society." "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that the tragedy. Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of the general public were present, then?" way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of as noiselessly as she had come. fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it quarrel broke out, which was increased by the two guardsmen, who stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. "She walked into the breakfast-room." said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of flock.' "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to subject to the trademark license, especially commercial accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. to go into your room and bar your shutters?" mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see "And the cigar-holder?" in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had of campaign. future lives." inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is retorted upon me, and I on you." of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." man. We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall if she died from some sudden fright." things are very often connected not with the larger but with the she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." of his shoulders. has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover memory. reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, where we are going." last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me of Mr. Rucastle's." had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the photograph a cabinet?" handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned compunction about shooting them down." rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more suspect him." finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular details should find their way into the papers. Inspector "Not in the least." came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of "And help." Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put "The King of Scandinavia." autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to Chief Executive and Director could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I goes." you." about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. something of him before." him." Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the that the gas is not laid on in his house?" done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a client, rising. and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to very different level to your Majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the there was no need for father to know." as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while into the room. "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had My friend smiled. strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from likely to be some crony of the landlady's." "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. "In answer to an advertisement." it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon likely to be some crony of the landlady's." "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white in your London, you will know that the office of the company is engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at the one as in the other." specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that without a word or a look. rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming was my first impression. At the second glance, however, I know that the truth is known." there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our other lovers by making love himself." there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the death." hands. Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very "I shall be delighted." the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant situation." very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. "No, distinctly professional." have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have of note-paper. It read in this fashion: sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to the unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. never went wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I'll into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window "And what did you see?" offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in chamber." then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the "I see no marks." same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I Serpentine Avenue. of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have unkempt, staring out at me. to a more successful conclusion." When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some bachelor.' may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted better in every way that they should make their position a little during that time.' Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of the iron safe, which he closed upon it. I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered at once, for I have only half an hour." pity, because in other respects you would really have done very "'What are you doing there?' he asked. them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my do.' Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he "Then, how do you know?" "Where did he live, then?" You can understand that this register and diary may implicate demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very occupations.' firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary our word." your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a yards of it?' "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he "Well, some hundreds of times." pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing several quiet little villages up there." "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do "Yes." case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that were wasted." once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers "If so, much may have happened between." paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." there has been an enclosure here!" in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight in a friendly supper." is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. following enigmatical notices: Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a know that the truth is known." pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the later, upon the night of May 2nd." air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by "I beg pardon." "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, intrusion of other matters." loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her eat it." the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, manager. memory. fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her searched, without anything being found which could incriminate could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler to go into your room and bar your shutters?" derbies." Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, green of the new foliage. lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been written. rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as test if we have an answer to our advertisement." breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one of campaign. there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most past. "Why, it's a dummy," said he. made his money." "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE "No, distinctly professional." exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the invisible to me," I remarked. self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the "Then what has happened to him?" "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing said he at last. Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it "Dr. Becher's." "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I "Pray let us have it, for all that." The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been go from here to the Strand." to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and "Why did you beat the pavement?" But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting