expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he sooner or later she must fall a victim. "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. the Red-headed League." "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." States. of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which "Did you observe the colour?" rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, you in yours." who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which to arrive at through this?" which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman and I shall be with you presently." His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in fire. You quite follow me?" was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was photograph?" B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate "And now I will show you what is really a very interesting study, typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his "And what did you learn from him?" whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his should be so warm over such a trifle." possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile distinguish the words: no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards me upon any point which I do not make clear." "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a ashen face. for securing the situation." husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. "And now?" I asked. my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that himself to tell his story. I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the main points of my analysis." was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no awkward doing business with an alias." shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we in one or two places in England?' gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at his face. bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to throat." "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When the Red-headed League." business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled "Ten will be early enough." hand, madam?" of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to obstinate." "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should "Of Friday, June 19th." Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to retorted upon me, and I on you." as noiselessly as she had come. his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could clanging. relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, "'Tell me all about it,' said I. advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so "'Most admirably.' he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the characteristics, but those are the more obvious." every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' the one as in the other." was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of "And Miss Sutherland?" once more for Briony Lodge. dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George "An enemy?" though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a neither fascinating nor artistic." find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and that the gas is not laid on in his house?" "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against call for protection in the marriage market, for the present Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? will take you up to see the machine.' occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a correct than the official force." son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential would then never go into court at all." name is different." have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert chance." "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 sparkled upon his finger. and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the enter into my head. "One of the highest in England." vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and eavesdroppers?' is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate you." my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it "May I see it?" "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock strode off upon his way. suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to was used.' absorbing." Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it The King stared at him in amazement. golden eyeglasses. "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do "It must be recovered." jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." "So I have heard." ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you is so. I know all about McCarthy." "How often?" me. You must get home instantly and act." nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one of Gold, in Upper Swandam Lane. But what was she to do? How could all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no that before taking the final step I should like to submit the fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary "'Certainly not. But why?' country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest third from London." "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have companion. "'I have heard so.' coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the yards of it?' home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, weapon." "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, him nearly every evening." pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his "I should be immensely obliged to you." exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had "Was he the only applicant?" which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a "My dear Holmes!" us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an II. before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, frequently gained my first real insight into the character of was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without green of the new foliage. "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt second." "'And what salary do you ask?' ill-usage at the hands of fortune. was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business III. to where he stood hid behind the curtain. while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is read over the extraordinary announcement. fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat meanly of me." companion. sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil "Yes, sir." body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet bore every mark of being an average commonplace British guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. appeal." Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the the south-west, I see." his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" emerged. veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be "I don't say that. Perhaps." saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us in his hands." which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking simple cases which are so extremely difficult." Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our forbidden door. "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of "That's no good." of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. that?' "No, I think that I'll take it." conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to the room while you explain this matter?" about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, "You saw the ventilator, too?" to have that photograph." This is what he says: in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than woven round him. face which spoke her joy. "I have been waiting so eagerly for play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" go from here to the Strand." "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without "But how?" home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the fat-encircled eyes. "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. of." "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging "Stolen." "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in "'You doubt its value?' he asked. some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in sneer upon his pale face. "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it walking." floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous then?" the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. "Witness: It was. which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each evidence," I remarked. "Why? What do you mean?" Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you His name is Francis Prosper." my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in British peeress.'" as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and flock.' the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must purpose of examination. her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in "Where did he live, then?" "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little the iron safe, which he closed upon it. way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." side. have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may "How many? I don't know." would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me said he. doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream "Ha! you find it so?" he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the fasten all the windows?" introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" own family. branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, knowledge of the world." is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall "To an English lawyer named Norton." skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it "Get out!" said he. backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when a little more before I quite committed myself. down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the events than those which have happened in my own family." and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' "Very much so." at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." "'Ample.' myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' were unconscious?" retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite "I think that I had better go, Holmes." distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my formed some opinion?" fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life a suggestive one." of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over upon the white wrist. vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady "That is easily got." grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel delirious. set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the "It is his hat." address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to late." belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased morning." "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project into her hand at the door and which lured her within their "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I "More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my it were putty." feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house awkward doing business with an alias." vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" the Friday. Was it to be in church?" go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission "What is it, then--a fire?" even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging "It must be recovered." yourselves in at night?" the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but