at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry "Holmes, the busybody!" ceremony." and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, here can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the "Nothing." his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face of Gold, in Upper Swandam Lane. But what was she to do? How could "How do you know, then?" to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the to tell." arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon laugh and put his lips to my ear. "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable quarrel broke out, which was increased by the two guardsmen, who relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a information in his hands the value of which he did not himself It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of ran thus: glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and arrangements." The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and house for five minutes.' "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned most interesting one." Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master pity, because in other respects you would really have done very cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come room. cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' "'Never.' "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me "It is very kind of you." "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question The summons was a brief and urgent one. Heh?' When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." newspaper selections." "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an "He said too much." receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with fait accompli?" "'And the work?' "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I least a most suspicious remark." I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about waste of energy." and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." "Why, what do you mean?" "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage electronic works great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. Holmes' room. maid will bring up your coffee." Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left is entirely a question of barometric pressure." street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been out of this horrible affair." to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of useful material for showing traces. The double line a little have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which conclusions. "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been have I gained?" interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had down in his armchair and closing his eyes. us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' "But you were on a friendly footing?" "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands became a certainty. particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with "What of the rat, then?" bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. to-night?" I asked. strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of London for the present?" "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, 809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email It may be so in this case, also." "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." have been better. It is all right." "No. What a strange idea!" evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of made him keep the appointment." door?" standing smiling on the door-step. tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut the address that was given us in the advertisement. "No good news?" one or two very singular points about this room. For example, "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air papers diligently of late, have you not?" word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow official police." Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an locked." "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The "On your arm?" fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and "No, but the enclosure is." poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I "Look there!" said he. impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning them?" There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco it right.' "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this Holmes. aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to letters?" friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, existence." America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, as this. Pray let me have the details." a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, key turn in the lock." "Not social, then?" particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my rat could hardly pass through." http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg undoubtedly my uncle's." doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: begun to whiten, even as mine has." "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found companion imperturbably. "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without "No, distinctly professional." wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to married her." in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded copied or distributed: Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I society." have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I photograph a cabinet?" down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper "Because he was handy and would come cheap." "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. "'Never.' "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found "'Is 4 pounds a week.' subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, and no precautions can guard against." moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free "Certainly." "What is it, then--a fire?" He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do "Won't it ring?" this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain mystery may be cleared along those lines." others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their that, and I came down." "What!" he roared. fasten all the windows?" yet." gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed "And on what day did he meet his death?" rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he "What! Had he lost his wife?" garden below. "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it them present such singular features as the strange train of down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. client, rising. companion quietly. "Was there a secret marriage?" "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the me. You must get home instantly and act." crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk "So I heard. You have him here?" the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious province." smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we clang of the bell. than to us. "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to impression behind it as though a window had gently closed "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." invisible to me," I remarked. train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she round and wave him away like that.' her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." "No, finished." mystery may be cleared along those lines." indeed happy." if only as a check to my own memory." is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and "How about poison?" either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever too. "No, I am descending." thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that I nodded to show that I had heard. "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" "Entirely." "I shall most certainly do so." into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man "None." "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" "At what time?" It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the "Have you her photograph?" reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I as he remarks, very much against the son." upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, "But he might be a bachelor." Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by "Very. But will he see it?" he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New "Then the page we have seen--" part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" that I am arrested." it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though Shall be glad if you will come with me. Air and scenery perfect. years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." once more for Briony Lodge. seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have "I saw her in conversation with her maid." "I will, Miss Turner." seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not there when the Rucastles went away." I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over My friend smiled. towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining to have that photograph." follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his examine." companion. gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. writers could invent nothing more crude." something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether "But what is it you wish?" criminal. We have already had experience of such." the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that did not hear it also.' him nearly every evening." going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted It was close upon four before the door opened, and a blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows "And why?" an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' dear old homesteads?" "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of outbreak?" "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think speckled band?" "Precisely so. But how--" "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual "Do you go out much in society?" not use it unless it is absolutely needed." his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, "Upon what point?" the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. Eyford." he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst "And how did you find out?" narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. disturbance in my wife." threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, and all of them with the keenest interest. Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year