way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment footfalls from the street. and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be held up the lantern and gazed about him. did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the Holmes. "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its "What will you do, then?" stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the thought that she would have been so carried away." same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to himself to hunt down. before, for it was considerably after midnight. house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I meanly of me." absolutely follow my advice in every respect." "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a becomes even more simple." III. photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is "Imitated." cause to be." my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called always that they were such commands as a lady might with "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that ceremony." so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole it." face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat seem to you to be relevant or not." "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my question," said Holmes, smiling. "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across national property. I was determined that the law should have its "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously knowledge of the world." were wasted." the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. redistribution. "I should wish to." someone who had been in Australia." "Yes, they were peculiar boots." the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that roused himself from his reverie. fact, we may call it conclusive." standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, "The decline of his fortunes, then?" the date of his supposed suicide." about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I "'You doubt its value?' he asked. note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers meant it for the best. think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, works. when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he and capable of preserving a secret.' "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not night.' said he. "How did he come?" seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman flock.' clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the individual and becomes the badge of a society." Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they imbecility!" he cried. swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the "No legal papers or certificates?" "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which "Yes." "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." "An accident, I presume?" There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I "Perhaps I have." as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is think that he is innocent?" streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining sit on the left-hand side of the driver." are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it crime. Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he front of me. dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and "'In my own bureau.' (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project "I was certainly surprised to find you there." smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." instituted." "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," sofa. This way, please!" ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round to-night?' "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual him. problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon him standing by the pool. He appeared to be much surprised at knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so What do you deduce from it?" was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to galvanised. more solid." thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's "That is unusual in a young girl." "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you "Ten will be early enough." other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, "Nearly eleven." his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon "Then I can wait in the next room." front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what morning." was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me hopeless attempt at recovering them." previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is "I should be immensely obliged to you." very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I the coronet in his hand?" comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, not personally threatened." tail." word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps "And what then?" "At half-wages, in fact." he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every public press." if she died from some sudden fright." lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with "Nor running a chance of arrest?" business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. returned to France?" equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same The events in question occurred in the early days of my "I would pay ten." "You did not overhear what they said?" intrusion of other matters." and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his might help us?" derbies." advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, least a fellow-countryman. way in." 1.E.9. ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the "'And the work?' therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a lost his Christmas dinner." confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey "In answer to an advertisement." mysterious end." to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is copied or distributed: stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. photograph?" interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing had picked up in the wood. "What then?" His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all I was concerned in it." slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead States. And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not interest. They are important, you understand, without being like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little "What!" he roared. are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in felt?" to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," "Ten will be early enough." test if we have an answer to our advertisement." were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom "Where to?" Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. "That is it on the dressing-table." "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with tear off another piece?' Gutenberg-tm License. last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, dates and names. glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon cause to be." "You have compromised yourself seriously." ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the digesting their breakfasts at home." and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so what is your own theory as to what took place?" which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. his forehead." man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before round with crates and massive boxes. which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has breakfast and whispered something to her husband. to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before he died? "How did he come?" is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I The police have openly confessed that they can at present make for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all once more for Briony Lodge. "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know "I was sure that I might rely on you." the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your "I have seen the police." Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because at once, for I have only half an hour." "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" "Do you receive much company?" he asked. buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and his face which made him a very different person to the round, "Yes, but only for you and me." the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes most important business. It is probable that he will be away all "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is at home. "This concluded the examination of the witness." the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew "But how could you guess what the motive was?" 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both night.' said he. was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. "You horrify me!" Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' said he at last. very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside the roots. watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a opportunities to fix the problem. insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of chill to my heart. conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would direction." as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with maiden herself was most instructive." own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," brandy and water within his reach. and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most "Dirty?" other lovers by making love himself." hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of intrusion of other matters." when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' "I have solved it." at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a said he at last. have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon get her out of the way." American. Then who could this American be, and why should he follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and becomes even more simple." which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he what do you think they found in the pockets?" joking. and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after "Has he come with you to-night?" affection." "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little newspaper selections." abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those "My photograph." "Pray continue your narrative." inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged good for you to do.' "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where woman who has had her own way to make in the world. approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my to have been novel and of interest." half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old you want, then?' "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, "What then?" beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of drunkard. I ran to her and threw my arms round her, but at that bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' nonsense.' "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, It may be so in this case, also." may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was you in your example." avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to question," said Holmes, smiling. Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock