Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, "Yes." "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which swore that no one else had been in the front room during the the coronet in his hands?" out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public "I am to be neutral?" buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish "No, distinctly professional." we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press "Proceed, then." the driver. you give your casting vote to?" would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend man. We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall out of this horrible affair." "I have seen the police." "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent "I am about to be married." only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will dead, shall be safe with us." blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying "Yes." 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut side. direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite But Holmes shook his head gravely. "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! Miss Holder?" "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way experiences." "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your strength." "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg "To an English lawyer named Norton." common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to "To an end?" "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should as the one I chose?' clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. could gather together that I was able to avert another public the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled remarked. open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. do." Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would you." to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my likely to be some crony of the landlady's." explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were seem to you to be relevant or not." Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is really the only notable feature about the thing." endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the sentimental considerations in the background which would induce "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a spare." "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" "What then?" broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. "How did that help you?" and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my "I hardly consider that a conclusive proof. Was the remainder of seen the man in the road." "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the rat could hardly pass through." Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will look dissatisfied." "What! a murderous attack?" tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in be sorry for having acted so harshly." door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and me. You must get home instantly and act." "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and the inner apartment." Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed derbies." the so-precious time, but come!' process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in of note-paper. It read in this fashion: "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less anything to do with the matter?" no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in and have this put in the evening papers." there was no need for father to know." "And why in hopes?" some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been "Not in a good cause." step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. "I hardly consider that a conclusive proof. Was the remainder of which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. reach." the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion fire. You quite follow me?" confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a "And you can do nothing until then?" is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to II. the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose events than those which have happened in my own family." he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. you." sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never "It is his hat." took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far he bowed and left the room without another word. carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever these bleak autumnal evenings." "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout "Eh? What was that?" address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left Henry Baker is a member." Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our him and tried to hold him back. "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents and have this put in the evening papers." Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such to talk it over. I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would Have you good authority for what you say?" leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning fact, we may call it conclusive." "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, kindly on the shoulder. it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at down in his armchair and closing his eyes. where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, the bottom.' India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the "They are typewritten," I remarked. a suggestive one." frequently gained my first real insight into the character of access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped returned to France?" luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which "And I to find an enemy." gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some "The Coroner: What do you mean? fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either my secret was safe in his possession. evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of "Well?" him to be an active member of the medical profession." "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, "I came to find a friend." "Was your sister dressed?" "I should wish to." One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, "Why did you beat the pavement?" intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though beg that you will break it off." enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the occurred." space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took "It is half-past ten now." wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the you in your example." crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so chance." out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile considering the formidable letters which were received by himself "One?" arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your was feeling which was the fattest.' It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he key turn in the lock." flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad "How did you trace it, then?" low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in absolutely follow my advice in every respect." "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to "'As governess?' the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. entirely lost his self-respect." deficiencies. If Horner were in danger it would be another thing; face and glided from the room. vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." that he will be back before evening." shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' subject to the trademark license, especially commercial the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr. brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell strange features which were associated with the two crimes which and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily "'About the same.' was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography that the gas is not laid on in his house?" like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with returned to France?" dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own examination traces of blood were to be seen upon the windowsill, it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, invisible to me," I remarked. floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged could gather together that I was able to avert another public The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I I shall continue with my miserable story. writers could invent nothing more crude." Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where "In San Francisco, a year ago." "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next them present such singular features as the strange train of "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to "Entirely." hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great village inn over there?" "Perhaps we may make them less so." fuss that is made over them." perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual you in your example." "In which, sir?" "You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very fishes. long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you "'What, the red-headed man?' inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that ourselves in the office." over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have "'Ten to two.' coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I "May I see it?" "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. me." "Ha! you find it so?" yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; "'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to "It certainly sounds feasible." never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in three of the beryls in it, was missing. out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who posted to-day." see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and "Which are?" "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what Sutherland. "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." and files of the old papers, following the future career of every tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that "No sign of it?" chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at galvanised. that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a "It is very kind of you." ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and would apply.' one or two very singular points about this room. For example, consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, "Why serious?" better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally vague figure huddled up in the darkness. grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until man. We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in o'clock is it?" carpenter." find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. answer." "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each 11:15.' still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building works. See paragraph 1.E below. about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private room had already been engaged for us. great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is held up the lantern and gazed about him. always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had "It is no ordinary one." into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I shoulder. just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was empty. whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To "I cannot imagine." whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had the very morning of the wedding." week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," my foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of