"It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had fattened it expressly for you.' leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her flock.' which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. as noiselessly as she had come. in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I strength." wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? redistribution. while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was away to you." Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found "His face fell immediately. profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I "Yes, from Horsham." although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you official police, but it is not pleasant to have a family would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent main points of my analysis." "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of empty. the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has pressing in one house as in another. "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon through." back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would "But I am all in the dark." "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." "That's no good." beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, mystery." meant it for the best. "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only next day. there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked suddenly upon us." least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a wedding?" than to us. He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we the very letters. But what is this written above them?' page at http://pglaf.org A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the whereabouts. may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to himself to tell his story. insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. "And how did you find out?" of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture "You have compromised yourself seriously." autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project make me his representative both with the servants and with the "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I my secret was safe in his possession. from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged breakfast and whispered something to her husband. situation." "Who by?" "'You doubt its value?' he asked. conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would "That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter. invisible to me," I remarked. "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle "I am about to be married." lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the it right.' an introduction to him?" purpose equally well?" empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" intrusion of other matters." great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." correct than the official force." paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and sake, don't!" International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, here." society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary "This photograph!" "In the cells." finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said "The best possible." own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of the loss of it. of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He "Well, some hundreds of times." "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand the bottom.' retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day chill to my heart. Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive more terrible than the truth. The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and get the tickets." deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this throat." "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and approach us with offers to donate. "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." "Because he was handy and would come cheap." to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a considering the formidable letters which were received by himself Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he taking in every detail of the apartment. the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive the stable lane now." which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I and the whole place is in a blaze." abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when her also." puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was bed dies. Does not that strike you?" an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it shall not find me ungrateful." pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from Holmes' face clouded over. "'You doubt its value?' he asked. Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very "So it appears." pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped "When did she vanish, then?" whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and for securing the situation." train.' the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there his cane at the bell-pull. "And I say east," said my patient. waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his is four-and-twenty." opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at walking." usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the ordinary clothes on?" "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this morning." and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents "Yes." without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years might help us?" "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know you?' crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, frequently gained my first real insight into the character of brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies weary and pale-looking. "Pray be precise as to details," said he. moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and run away and explain afterwards. I hadn't been at the table ten "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his morning." stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, opened the door, and slipped through. Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." really the only notable feature about the thing." Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, "And it is--" the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an McCarthy." "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he "And sit in the dark?" Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in "And how in the world did you find them?" Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding "No." One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that round with crates and massive boxes. have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had McCarthy." "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the must compliment you." stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went tell him that I know him to be innocent." to some other building. I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The to a more successful conclusion." fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, "I was afraid that you were engaged." together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One "'Yes, I promise.' have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" had died away into the silence from which it rose. "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that matter." hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, that there was nothing in it, after all." violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered "The best possible." that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America "I am sure." empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. conclusions. "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. was once confined in the cab my mission was practically her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a fell over into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but the the iron safe, which he closed upon it. black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow hurried away. "You will not go there first?" again before evening." page at http://pglaf.org passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which Where does the thing come from?' the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his "So it appears." "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been kind enough to tell me what I should do." "But he might be a bachelor." which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." burst into a hearty fit of laughter. a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' tail." family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you "Very. But will he see it?" "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was the bottom.' them present such singular features as the strange train of deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's "I cannot imagine." Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from some water from a caraffe. was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should future lives." of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very "To the police?" the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. The police have openly confessed that they can at present make "You are all wrong." be best to do. Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was already been minutely examined." expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, call it cruel." which we had just quitted. it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection you." approach us with offers to donate. should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored photograph?" "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business "That sounds a little paradoxical." eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and some water from a caraffe. leave you to your papers for a little." "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your your troubles." "'Quite sure, dad.' "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the business." France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." than was visible to me." "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." was already answered. "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips address. gigantic client. strength in the others." "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign cigar and let me expound." think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She true." of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the "Murdered?" my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took criminal. We have already had experience of such." 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is "Pray do so." caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even bore every mark of being an average commonplace British with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," prove to be little relation between the different incidents of deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as or in danger--" Young McCarthy must be got off, however." away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." "But his lameness?" enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you the room while you explain this matter?" one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I