individual and becomes the badge of a society." "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen where Mr. Fordham shows you.' "It's nothing of the kind." arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly beg that you will break it off." great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; "Married! When?" fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little "You know me, then?" that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from "'You cannot say what it was?' face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good "I say it is." just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, from the brougham. which we had just quitted. the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible "That is unusual in a young girl." danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the companion quietly. his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of seem to you to be relevant or not." help us in this matter." should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of eat it." case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it became a certainty. for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another envelope. very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" call the police, let the police find what they can.' showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious. Mary, has deserted me." fatally injured? "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the "You are certainly joking, Holmes." Eyford." Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began whereabouts. him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America upon the white wrist. of the vacancies.' and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy "Game for a morning drive?" have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that "I will try. What is it?" were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." some mystery and the punishment of some crime." "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and Clair, of Lee." lips." affection." "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten fish-monger and a tide-waiter." rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm about. "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you "A thing like a cleaver," said he. could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of few hundred pounds.' loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the note?" rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a "I cannot tell." thought that she would have been so carried away." and put his glass in his pocket. snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little own family. to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in washing it down with a long draught of water. in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, tail." "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you if she died from some sudden fright." homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. affection." of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your just called myself is not exactly my own." "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and that you can jump it.' that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek quarrel broke out, which was increased by the two guardsmen, who down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time as the one I chose?' do.' value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with three fields round his house, and there he would take his 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass his fortune, and I went back to pa. time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was and shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint and are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to little adventures." "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the The telegram which we eventually received came late one night bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its opened the door, and slipped through. dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look "You know me, then?" "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do "Nothing?" clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more during that time.' recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to said I. once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then distinguish the words: a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. thin, with a long, sharp nose?" time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its he. over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much there!' "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we which we had just quitted. "If I can be of use." "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late "One horse?" interjected Holmes. happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for said Mr. Holder. "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in eavesdroppers?' his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs. charge against him will break down." there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the where we are going." "Pray tell us what has happened to you." however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. noise which awoke you from your sleep?" and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of rest is familiar to you. I am much indebted to you, sir, for a silent! Oh, he will be silent!' front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden disappearance of the bride.'" and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" hard-headed British jury." down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before "So it appears." matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his developed." of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, characteristics, but those are the more obvious." "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I "It looks newer than the other things?" Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious "Of Friday, June 19th." "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, which it had come upon my father." "A client, then?" "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" "But how did you gain them?" call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the "What do you mean?" go--none." "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the "It is his hat." room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on outsides of the windows. chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two problems help me to do so." casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the "I shall most certainly do so." "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. face and glided from the room. been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE colonel looking down at me. all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, strength of mind to control. "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I 'I should be able to look after that for you.' family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The other means.' "What then?" and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will "I should like to see him very much." "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his one of the states of the Union." you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, never came back." "About a month then." which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." impression behind it as though a window had gently closed untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a you?" to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in "I beg pardon." of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project address. knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, lectures into a series of tales." you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or During two years I have had three consultations and one small where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the "If I can be of use." foresight and the moral retrogression?" gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who "You forget that I know nothing about it." more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a "No." them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every "The vanishing of the lady." It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you "Precisely." glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. maid will bring up your coffee." seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This "His face fell immediately. offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most "You think that he is dead?" "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate the driver. Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow "I am following you closely," I answered. fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would exactly what you advise." that, and I came down." very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a http://gutenberg.net/license). "No, distinctly professional." official police, but it is not pleasant to have a family in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis "None. Neville wrote those words." thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I "Can I be of assistance?" need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: plantation.' "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should fasten all the windows?" methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other "'Stolen!' he cried. reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my deficiencies. If Horner were in danger it would be another thing; unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, everything which you would wish to know." have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been call for it in person on Monday morning.' useful material for showing traces. The double line a little derbies." come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not fact, we may call it conclusive." importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as said I. slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide pressing in one house as in another. way in." old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa delighted to hear it," he said. been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we too. was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was trifles." begun to whiten, even as mine has." into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the From what you have told me I think that it is possible that washing it down with a long draught of water. "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate "I have solved it." Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black Holmes. Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm flock.' bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' compunction about shooting them down." Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a in his hands." there were one or two details which were new to me. But the business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" room?" The summons was a brief and urgent one. "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" "But his lameness?" week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was now. It seems that there had been some informality about their "I don't believe it." Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after the little opening for the ventilator is." suddenly upon us." for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It and prosperity to your house. Good-night." the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was gigantic client. "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. "What then?" Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe