daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the IS society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, to miss it." wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we my room." been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! my friend's incisive reasoning. are, I think, all that we need." would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" golden eyeglasses. enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and "It is very kind of you." surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, Holmes' face clouded over. "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would the inquest, and which are worth considering." Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers may have an influence upon European history." now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger about. Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. will find little credit to be gained out of this case." of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it four million human beings all jostling each other within the think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly himself in a perplexing position. this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back "The murder was done with it." "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he better grown goose." did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a geese which you supplied to the Alpha." opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian "You were travelling in the States?" of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But "That is not always so easy." "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. hurried away. into the bag, and made for the door. light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be indeed which he could not unravel. "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that "It is no ordinary one." he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father "Game for a morning drive?" "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for "Ample." "Married! When?" that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret sound at heart." upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to all that?" very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. note?" which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there do.' "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain the coronet at all injured?" "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual "What! Had he lost his wife?" "I do." "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with details should find their way into the papers. Inspector "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what now. It seems that there had been some informality about their "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at "He said that you could solve anything." It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, "Yes, there are nearly always some there." "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, I shall communicate with you." your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were dress. She knows that the King is capable of having her waylaid "I don't say that. Perhaps." gone. signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. constraint." de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: "Not particularly." "And from a noble client?" business matters.' must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you key of the affair now." of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the "The vanishing of the lady." with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me "'You cannot say what it was?' Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my "It was." something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. sake, don't!" the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got "He is dead," cried several voices. met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There hour?' going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes triumphant cloud from his cigarette. about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he extraordinary contortions. hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle his wife has ceased to love him." didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, friends, not even his own brother. expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that "How about poison?" Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf "Pray do so." and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." "None. Neville wrote those words." locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal "Indeed! Whose, then?" All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally wall." looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and "It missed him, then?" chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair success. them present such singular features as the strange train of collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a bled considerably." Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner extraordinary contortions. "Have you her photograph?" "No." still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it "Who by?" here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT my former friend and companion. "It was a confession," I ejaculated. here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. "'Never.' "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. "There is the writing." "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too "Why serious?" events than those which have happened in my own family." my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our again, where I was soon asleep. opportunities to fix the problem. grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes and the whole place is in a blaze." "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I chance at all." "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of burst into a hearty fit of laughter. "That is easily got." been able to understand it, in a very few words. lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You know what is wrong with it.' planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." any assistance, either to you or to my friend here, I shall be know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the always that they were such commands as a lady might with burst into a hearty fit of laughter. "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. outlined against the flood of light, one hand upon the door, one "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the better in every way that they should make their position a little glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called "What can you not understand?" "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man, cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could "What! You do not mean bodies?" discontent upon his features. I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A "I say it is." "A confidential servant?" hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since "By train from Waterloo." into her hand at the door and which lured her within their send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the it right.' home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table conclusions. there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" would apply.' "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would together. decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora be there in time for your coming." During two years I have had three consultations and one small half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows during the last few years, and there are many noble families to "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. green of the new foliage. "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning "Nothing?" this man was intellectual?" indeed happy." presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of the dangers which encompass me." was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off "In San Francisco, a year ago." rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a not fit the lock." King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was would apply.' Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied. truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great "You will not go there first?" until night should bring an explanation. box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can been with you?" "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have than to us. a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed prepare for the new role I have to play." remarked. have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat "Yesterday." deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get anything to do with the matter?" Sutherland. certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a be best to do. the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to anything to do with the matter?" "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." rather more to my taste than Italian or French. It is "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An hardly wander." He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way becomes even more simple." came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement "Absolutely none." down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." "No more words. Get out!" "How on earth--" "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his "My Mary? Impossible!" following enigmatical notices: "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ it." away in different directions, and I went off to make my own "Yes." Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest forecastle of an emigrant ship. "What do you mean?" train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all threw himself down with his face to the pillow. abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign upon an income of about 60 pounds." saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." tear off another piece?' He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who I am not easy in my mind about them." iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue to go into your room and bar your shutters?" Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. will take you up to see the machine.' "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." stood on the top of it. opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your little adventures." brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, green of the new foliage. and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with depend upon your compliance." had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of some place of shelter and let the county police know what has usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his his face. the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. 1.E.9. object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of "Entirely." fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent "Yes, sir." Street. very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and our word." might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have of campaign. "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." tell them apart.' quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose "On your arm?" works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, sentimental considerations in the background which would induce surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs." the coronet in his hand?" unprofitable." It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock