three of the beryls in it, was missing. "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small "You have carte blanche." receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple went to the Alpha were town bred." "At the wedding breakfast." so.' "Well, some hundreds of times." present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it "'How far from the body?' chance at all." fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black morning." what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, hair?' about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in article?" be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. she has been waylaid. There has been no result." very peculiar words of the dying woman?" are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful window when the police appeared." "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them "My last client of the sort was a king." convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' "Then he might have called to you?" Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been "That is not always so easy." "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. "What will you say?" Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, seem to you to be relevant or not." or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" you." but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it vault. room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small of fine shops and stately business premises that they really hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of attention." connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding "The decline of his fortunes, then?" my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little absolutely follow my advice in every respect." it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A take the flies, but not before." more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other as yours." glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't Project Gutenberg-tm works. dress. She knows that the King is capable of having her waylaid With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let silent! Oh, he will be silent!' "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I was a perfect sample of the class. and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the "I am still in the dark." "I would pay ten." "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are straightened it out again. "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his jaw, it is surely very clear that that side is less illuminated "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client "It was a confession," I ejaculated. open." upon a handsome competence. 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." way in everything. "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in "Yes." "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help get her out of the way." second window is the one that I jumped from." set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his cause to be." permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he "The Cedars?" the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon "Where is it, then?" "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must "I hardly consider that a conclusive proof. Was the remainder of "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that "He disappeared so suddenly." was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, be sorry for having acted so harshly." confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for do.' States. "But the mystery?" rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name "What do you make of that, Watson?" "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, triumphant cloud from his cigarette. will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed "On the contrary, this is the right side." "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King "And when will you call?" year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot Farm upon the left." vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the brain must have something in it." make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, strange features which were associated with the two crimes which deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned wall." "By no means." believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I rooms." right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That guilty parties." sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, it." public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you "He might." McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the conceal it?" yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real too. "'It is locked up,' I answered. the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might "Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be quick march!" believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey was shining brightly. There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with business." "It goes to the housekeeper's room." either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. purpose of examination. "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" for its centre. Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible to you." upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no present." "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such became a certainty. reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler." card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense ways including including checks, online payments and credit card rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must "The gentleman I describe." thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, information in his hands the value of which he did not himself The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We said I. to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You "You have a clue?" destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that "Has he come with you to-night?" stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running you give your casting vote to?" that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. point our research must commence, and we will begin it by little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I examine." watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." him, that man would not have given me such complete information "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old "My photograph." chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over "A client, then?" I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work opened the door, and slipped through. cause to be." remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that a room. arrested. You then--" propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same one else, I think." "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to with you?" description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed IS nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the "I shall be delighted." providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance "Proceed, then." Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me Stoke Moran." the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some "No sign of it?" were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out anything to a woman, for she would have her way." bed dies. Does not that strike you?" as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from there has been an enclosure here!" charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." and that he would see to anything that turned up. company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who "'What would be the hours?' I asked. The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the "But how could you guess what the motive was?" refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my whole matter to your consideration." "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for again, where I was soon asleep. "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. "'Stolen!' he cried. heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers instincts rose up against that laugh. was lame." "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to upon an income of about 60 pounds." and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical British barque "Sophy Anderson", of the singular adventures of the compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the completely overtopped every other consideration that we both presented more singular features than that which was associated was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One "And why?" young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched get the tickets." "He is dead," cried several voices. everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which himself in a perplexing position. "No." American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense may have an influence upon European history." eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late young Openshaw's." his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet your sleep?' and shall probably return to London by the evening train." but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real invisible to me," I remarked. twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind. stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it once more to my work. yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss "I am following you closely," I answered. all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very past. observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen ashen face. "'Why that?' I asks. "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence 1.E.9. Heh?' her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and at home. matter." "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, through." "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the "A confidential servant?" There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. "We must have a cab." need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had "I have a cab outside." "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems "And who is her maid?" noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I might have a private word with us. Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my used to be." "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable morning." "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any as noiselessly as she had come. goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" in my life." into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair "Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly, "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have "Then you may be so with me." conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well