lids now and glanced across at his visitor. several quiet little villages up there." "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in have accepted such a situation. photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call "'No, I know no one in these parts.' "The best possible." passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very power." He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, singular points about the case. What did the police think of the he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand one of them." "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I the room while you explain this matter?" if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting never will be, entirely cleared up. of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that "None." "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the beyond words. "I will try. What is it?" fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my "What I expected to see." characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no fishes. have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the bird I ate is country bred." though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to "You don't mind breaking the law?" "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager "Then, how do you know?" "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of "And help." "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." held up the lantern and gazed about him. exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting "And how have you succeeded?" "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" said he. said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson him standing by the pool. He appeared to be much surprised at to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and what is your own theory as to what took place?" swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. "One of the highest in England." for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left was suffering from some strong agitation, which it took all his Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, and looked back. to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed "I shall most certainly do so." brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or be there in time for your coming." drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification "Perhaps we may make them less so." His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure "No?" In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a girl said." to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of our word." presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I situation." way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me "It may not come to that," said Holmes. of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great up this clue while it is still hot." red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man. His decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly spark where all is dark to me." possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly "And why?" hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a "You think so, too?" "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke signal between you and your father? hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence "Well, but China?" "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf "Not particularly." thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more "It was." nice household for a young lady." A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said next day. "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. "'Quite sure, dad.' the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" was keenly on my guard against him. He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be may have an influence upon European history." late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you "Yes, the wine-cellar." the tragedy. some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no persecution?" "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to Lestrade of Scotland Yard." morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to dear old homesteads?" question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony the matter?" moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' "Oh, the cause is excellent!" "Precisely." disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out cup of tea. be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear "Dark enough and sinister enough." Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. was a loud and authoritative tap. their singular warning or token before them when starting upon "No." "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There ventilator." encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, a few minutes he said that it would be all right. reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and that secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece daring than any effort of the imagination." bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had "Yes, he did." there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head bill, which interests me deeply." "Not him." questionable one." only touch the interest." I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it "Not him." the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but been deceived." "It came here." already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to characteristics, but those are the more obvious." glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience the dangers which encompass me." the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered "Yes, the wine-cellar." I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a most interesting one." "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss them?" "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking "Precisely." came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn "Absolutely none." exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us again, where I was soon asleep. of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a "Then, how do you know?" The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. himself in a perplexing position. there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' "We must sit without light. He would see it through the "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the stammered. sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our of them has the shutters up.' within hail.' call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." "Yes." willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's success. should be so warm over such a trifle." snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking over with notes and figures. he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were "Thank you. And your address?" saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing States. than to us. down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a very old mansion. He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed that you saw all that I did." it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he locked. "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and exactly what you advise." the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man, In this way you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of an "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same "And from a noble client?" This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged "So I heard. You have him here?" "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we "'What are you doing there?' he asked. to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were examination traces of blood were to be seen upon the windowsill, "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass "You have but to name it." of." "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for with you?" last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to soul! here is her carriage at the door." your own bird, so if you wish--" hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but "'No, I know no one in these parts.' "Why, what do you mean?" chill to my heart. "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in "Yes, only one." locked." into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case murdered man." to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, chair. into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this writers could invent nothing more crude." "'I am sure if I had known--' fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how been lifted and conveyed somewhere." that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of head. So long, then!" "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, seven miles from Eyford Station.' look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did "9th. McCauley cleared. "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" "You were travelling in the States?" order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A ways including including checks, online payments and credit card The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he any." over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change happened." "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from have got?" insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to dear old homesteads?" that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" the house with me." frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, even so self-evident a thing as that." "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love "At the wedding breakfast." have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and problems help me to do so." metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as and your relations to her." I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was article?" but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." society." fat-encircled eyes. He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are success. end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your said he. side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the "Ah!" and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the "None." The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great his knees, staring into the fire. sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had "This concluded the examination of the witness." "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped "Look there!" said he. "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." eat it." and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry good for you to do.' "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend "We must have a cab." month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his bonnet, and went out." correct than the official force." "'Yes, it was gone.' "Never." "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is as noiselessly as she had come. what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, "It must be recovered." fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire