unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between "And now?" He raised his hand. will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. be there in time for your coming." "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" "Of what day?" I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I I leave." impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. strength of mind to control. twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes relation between them, and what the object of his repeated said I. "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, have got?" "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one upon a handsome competence. in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, Street. "What do you mean?" say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is some city in a dream. there were one or two details which were new to me. But the Watson," he said cordially. the inquest, and which are worth considering." And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, wedding?" hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble "No legal papers or certificates?" "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen. "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking "None." five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but "Then I am your man." fact, we may call it conclusive." Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There this man was intellectual?" to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are "And who is her maid?" "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative "No." "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. so.' than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" "She will not sell." had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to colour had been driven from his face. during the last few years, and there are many noble families to playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn affection." a monotonous occupation." Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you tied." my former friend and companion. these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?" 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off "And you thought he was pulled back?" of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. was a loud and authoritative tap. strong and stiff." fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second which it had come upon my father." and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save "Very murderous indeed." was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob "It goes to the housekeeper's room." the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do "Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly, perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? that, and I came down." instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's "Well, some hundreds of times." are, I think, all that we need." such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring how narrow had been my escape. as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly there were so many in the whole country as were brought together and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, 1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson tell him that I know him to be innocent." and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers "Where did he live, then?" knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. yards of it?' Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, strong reason behind." year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an could not have written that. It is the German who is so ill-usage at the hands of fortune. they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." "Pray be precise as to details," said he. headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': from the brougham. police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have "How do you know, then?" however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her bearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I sooner or later she must fall a victim. memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of "Certainly." "It is very kind of you." "'Entirely.' them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that lost nothing by them." were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a "Yes, certainly." of your young ladies.' Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by or in danger--" is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a case before our client came into the room." "Do you know him?" The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the golden eyeglasses. 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking to go into your room and bar your shutters?" "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's characteristics, but those are the more obvious." prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" said he. to Leatherhead. of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, chambers. friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and lost his Christmas dinner." the dangers which encompass me." these bleak autumnal evenings." although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the against a man in the prime of life?" "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will views." get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. conduct the inquiry." "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger remarked. sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which nonsense.' son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, Project Gutenberg-tm works. providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately meanly of me." memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend "No sign of it?" Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not "Well, at least," said Holmes, "you have had your revenge upon fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? "On Monday." the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster indeed happy." offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a sparkled upon his finger. "An accident, I presume?" a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes "To the police?" subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. be.' "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." weigh very heavily upon my conscience." "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of everything which you would wish to know." week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with "Just look it up, then." very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." strode off upon his way. "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked to-night?' "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." "'And the work?' Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all rooms." be best to do. I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is now. It seems that there had been some informality about their been anything against him. He had for years been known as a tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three voice. rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is "Absolutely?" him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of 1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to "'Where could I find him?' man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to "No." last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are night.' said he. tightly behind him. with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." "'Yes.' matters immensely." his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, what I may call a really hard day's work." play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden troubles have been weighing upon his mind. "No more words. Get out!" three of the beryls in it, was missing. it? Did I buy the geese off you?" accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in even of instruction." deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his opportunities to fix the problem. successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. papers must be those that are destroyed.' the inner apartment." One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which business." be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang way: his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for should be so warm over such a trifle." studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper there were one or two details which were new to me. But the manager. inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were entirely lost his self-respect." have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' "Of Friday, June 19th." which presents any features of interest. It is possible, however, before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily "Why? What do you mean?" yards of it?' and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, the coroner come to?" "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an McCarthy's innocence. better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with lost his Christmas dinner." manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." such attractions and accomplishments?' "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' "You have compromised yourself seriously." residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a business for myself and took professional chambers in Victoria used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, until night should bring an explanation. My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a questioning and rather startled gaze. it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We You want to know what became of those geese?" Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce "How about poison?" red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. The police have openly confessed that they can at present make taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private over his head with a sweet womanly caress. A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is dear old homesteads?" boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have writing, and yet I know it well." the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr. answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at "And why in hopes?" reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the "But your client--" the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' "It was." work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the "Why serious?" the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest footfalls from the street. me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it "'A dozen yards or so.' tied." "Married! When?" absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." "Not in a good cause." word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in call you and give you the chance." of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and better grown goose." homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." "And when will you call?" "It is to him that this trophy belongs." here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger distance from the station, and there we found the young lady "What steps will you take?" I asked. both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by