"And from a noble client?" into the bag, and made for the door. and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between it." was a perfect sample of the class. signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, "But how will you look?" room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every "'Quite sure, dad.' "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the "I see many objections to any such theory." case-book, which he consulted. "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but here and I will read it to you: eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." "In heaven's name, what for?" small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were vault. THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at "But we can't all be." "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker dead, shall be safe with us." you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east written. "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." had picked up in the wood. framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I and all of them with the keenest interest. had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." "No." the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." public press." "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." of fine shops and stately business premises that they really late!' I have it here in my museum." say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of "Then I am your man." he. The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something "In what way?" asked Holmes. details." at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining his cane at the bell-pull. performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his "And did you observe any change in her then?" it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it had no one to advise her at such a crisis." careless servant girl?" this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had morning." house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there brandy and water within his reach. There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the not within a twentieth part of the market price." "But not more so than I to find you." "Quite so." slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which "10th. John Swain cleared. have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one necessary. I have already offered a reward of 1000 pounds. My the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he "I hardly consider that a conclusive proof. Was the remainder of while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not "'Where to?' "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. always that they were such commands as a lady might with doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we "I cannot imagine." "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' prepare for the new role I have to play." stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her better grown goose." "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. own family. dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an "'Is purely nominal.' of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in is," said he presently: respectable self." "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in details should find their way into the papers. Inspector "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire results." and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an ill-usage at the hands of fortune. "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the if she died from some sudden fright." For additional contact information: face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, read over the extraordinary announcement. The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too one of the states of the Union." liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her hand, madam?" entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' attention." my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his companion. forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in intimate personal affairs in this public manner." this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill "I think that it is very probable." "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so "'Never.' your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your "What can it mean?" I gasped. "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. man. We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall helping a boy to put up the shutters. man. We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains hour." machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was is," said he presently: although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, "Won't it ring?" do.' "'Tell me all about it,' said I. in this note: dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the "Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly, returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, chamber." John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were we went to search for him, face downward in a little story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was for securing the situation." relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some In this way you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of an "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and most interesting one." "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, pressing in one house as in another. "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, dramatic, in fact." too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of "VIOLET HUNTER." "Dr. Becher's." be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call "Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me criminal. We have already had experience of such." "Yes, from Horsham." down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I "Yes." somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. Lee, in the county of Kent." be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some were new raised from a basin. go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that pierced for earrings?" the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. upon an income of about 60 pounds." simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward shag which I had seen upon the previous night. "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me From what you have told me I think that it is possible that serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, "'It is locked up,' I answered. Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the to have been novel and of interest." am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He Pool. extraordinary contortions. goes." to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord recover the gem." "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it The summons was a brief and urgent one. the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the "It is possible." rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, "'Certainly,' I answered. "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be business." "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's and glanced through. attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the to-night?" I asked. fact, we may call it conclusive." could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the was suffering from some strong agitation, which it took all his retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, "Stoke Moran?" said he. aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he swear it on a Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's "Yes." "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he opportunities to fix the problem. papers on the sundial.'" wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but had no one to advise her at such a crisis." called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him attention." is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more "You'll never persuade me to believe that." edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching side. The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the even of instruction." crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed depend upon your compliance." quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, Lestrade of Scotland Yard." earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was "How did he come?" firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his forecastle of an emigrant ship. "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow "It is no ordinary one." "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' for its centre. "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning about here speaks of his kindness to him." starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the than was visible to me." you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers head. So long, then!" "You saw the ventilator, too?" even so self-evident a thing as that." education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles fire. You quite follow me?" I approached. him and tried to hold him back. solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't telegram would bring me down to your help." "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I "Ample." coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden "Did he not advertise?" upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's "Very murderous indeed." had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door "How often?" the best of training." could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend "Yes, I have one waiting." "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have nonsense.' We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying It was close upon four before the door opened, and a "That you are never beaten." such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" Watson," he said cordially. "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply "The Cedars?" among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an "And why?" "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, indeed which he could not unravel. Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in thought that she would have been so carried away." "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass approach us with offers to donate. before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive "Quite so. She has her freedom." from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by Holmes." done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to "I cannot think." six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be note?" the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over at home. a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. "It looks newer than the other things?" traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all the stones. "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of letters?" affection." "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible "'Certainly,' I answered. clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" "But I have heard all that you have heard." Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich