butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang brought there to personate someone, and the real person is firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he returning from some small jollification and was making his way matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of of Mr. Rucastle's." before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had "You think so, too?" who is not only proficient in his profession but is also discreet impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being "Then, for God's sake, what was this dark business which was rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind events, Mr. Windibank!" eat it." might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, "Why did you beat the pavement?" appointment with me for six o'clock?" serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and ventilator." begin with, and I had not got mine yet." unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and know what is wrong with it.' out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the "'And what are they worth?' I asked. brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be I think that I could be of assistance to you." cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some "What, then, did Peterson do?" distance from the station, and there we found the young lady "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be "A client, then?" "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed "He disappeared so suddenly." "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom "I am in hopes that she does." "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles had picked up in the wood. I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited detained." "Well, some hundreds of times." reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch useful material for showing traces. The double line a little outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down third from London." fait accompli?" "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had village inn over there?" "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with Street. bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and must be when I saw the door open.' look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his awkward doing business with an alias." I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. "Then I am your man." behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water four million human beings all jostling each other within the across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, "Certainly." at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." License. You must require such a user to return or "No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul "Never." depend upon your compliance." dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its open." "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker digesting their breakfasts at home." my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself absolutely follow my advice in every respect." Mary, has deserted me." "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing address. outside. constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." whole matter to your consideration." robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the "What do you mean?" my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises "It surprised me." lost nothing by them." news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was bed dies. Does not that strike you?" "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to "'Certainly not. But why?' more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his only touch the interest." and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. "No." judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my "Was your sister dressed?" shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover fled together." coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall his cane at the bell-pull. upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a families. Now for the facts. annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning both be extremely obliged.' ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': "Whose house is it?" "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very shag which I had seen upon the previous night. "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That what I may call a really hard day's work." "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several Holmes' face clouded over. business at Coburg Square is serious." all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation I. morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is shoulder; "he's all right." stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, "'Is 4 pounds a week.' passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, and that he would see to anything that turned up. inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to address. I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." "Nothing?" With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when weary and pale-looking. to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste have I gained?" so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the will he say when he returns?" "It is very kind of you." "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you very peculiar words of the dying woman?" a good hundred miles off by now." "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, "Breckinridge is his name." "And now?" He raised his hand. adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as thought that she would have been so carried away." was keenly on my guard against him. "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a "I should like to see him very much." as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining "'I am sure that I do not know.' Watson," he said cordially. case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones there when the Rucastles went away." question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is the inquest, and which are worth considering." and files of the old papers, following the future career of every sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." four million human beings all jostling each other within the hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be Sutherland. took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to "'How far from the body?' means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed your bag." "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is it? Did I buy the geese off you?" I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." to affect your life." "'Most admirably.' detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, was keenly on my guard against him. Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as "Dr. Becher's." aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you "What then?" anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me been anything against him. He had for years been known as a way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." "He said that you could solve anything." occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at weighed down with some great anxiety. Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." reach." crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of "The vanishing of the lady." Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I charged with?" safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his "Of what?" "My own seal." a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness singular points about the case. What did the police think of the empty. his wife has ceased to love him." Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. "Here?" here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a "And why?" "And how have you succeeded?" coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, "What have you to say now?" soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a arrangements." said he at last. "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, works. "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. he died? buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without "Who was the criminal, then?" "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which "'What are you doing there?' he asked. sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you point in the dark hollow of his hand. lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged good for you to do.' could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock populous neighbourhood." Holmes." "I cannot imagine." eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it "10th. John Swain cleared. Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the that he has suffered." "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where so far?" they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the "No, finished." It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the before the coroner and the police-court." "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and less than 26s. 4d. "'And the work?' call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." "It is no ordinary one." secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" was already answered. letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and "I cannot say that I have." imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly go back?" any." "Always." pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, "And how have you succeeded?" may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while chance at all." "A greater distance to travel." "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. are, and they are waiting for us." feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, speckled band?" over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. "Nothing?" gone. self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." DISSOLVED. no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there presented which may be striking and bizarre without being cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can "Precisely so. But how--" silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how as this. Pray let me have the details." can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method later, upon the night of May 2nd." Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his me upon any point which I do not make clear." salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and "What can you not understand?" greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: the salesman. prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the do.' "You were travelling in the States?" you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, singular points about the case. What did the police think of the floor.