steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and "But what harm can there be in that?" direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate "Then you may entirely rely on me." the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a handed it to him. "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. God! What an exposure! What can I do?" was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our "My stepfather's business papers." caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which have got?" rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. status with the IRS. his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about his eyes and forehead. natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at learned something! Where are the gems?" "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, occupations.' self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." new acquaintance to Baker Street. and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a the inquest, and which are worth considering." foresight and the moral retrogression?" has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter "Will you go?" But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in prison!" would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut some mystery and the punishment of some crime." for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said "Of what?" directly by questioning you." at home. its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler this Miss Turner." help us in this matter." I shall communicate with you." furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, His name is Francis Prosper." labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham "Precisely so. But how--" smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend "What! Had he lost his wife?" which should have the effect of calling the attention of the he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the "Yes, sir." of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those acted in my house last night?" down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and to-night?" I asked. orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in matter." his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. "Not I." "Come in!" said Holmes. generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because over part of the map. "What do you read?" "Why did you beat the pavement?" Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it noting anything else of interest. earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can use an arc-and-compass breastpin." happened." search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as over here." but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly any." vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very "Which surely he restored to their owner?" there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. even of instruction." stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is place no limit on the sum I may draw." There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the detective. "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have "And your mother is alive?" chair. "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of searched, without anything being found which could incriminate docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too "But what harm can there be in that?" entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for himself in a perplexing position. turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened may have an influence upon European history." during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, presented which may be striking and bizarre without being "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the be there in time for your coming." being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in death." entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just "Your presence might be invaluable." in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy "You forget that I know nothing about it." company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote it." in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened "When did she vanish, then?" flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible prove to be little relation between the different incidents of frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to is so. I know all about McCarthy." handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or "Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You "A call for help, you thought?" I am not easy in my mind about them." you in your example." "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have present strange and interesting features that it is no easy research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do as yours." the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend as the one I chose?' "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. ready to-morrow?' "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have crime." work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, "Nothing?" threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left in him." "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, whereabouts. no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, "To ruin me." "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia and the church but not where the lady lived." brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted "That is possible." marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a room had already been engaged for us. town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again "No." furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can that you wished to speak to me?' flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that eavesdroppers?' A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, have established a very serious case against the son of the but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if What do you deduce from it?" known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little "And who is her maid?" commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely "You saw the ventilator, too?" way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just skylight. blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a "Yes, he did." to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors politicians who had been sent down from the North. pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of business for myself and took professional chambers in Victoria the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to the inner apartment." the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the confronted him. editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You treasure which we had under our roof, suppressing only the name anything to a woman, for she would have her way." from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself "I have seen the police." "He said that you could solve anything." "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you as the one I chose?' "What have you to say now?" "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It himself in a perplexing position. give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been hands. and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the "No." to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right emerged. "'Ample.' The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as danger is over." man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such himself to hunt down. The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs "We have tried and failed." however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid Foundation experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have "Yes. He waved his hands." "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." papers must be those that are destroyed.' down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may could go. door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing conduct the inquiry." "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a have I gained?" street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods "You know me, then?" for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." imbecility!" he cried. "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be a good hundred miles off by now." "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. that you wished to speak to me?' have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell reach." Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. Gutenberg-tm License. and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot out of this horrible affair." in. other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the child?' he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man "The Cedars?" heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the suddenly upon us." of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I to-night's adventure." rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that where we are going." trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE "It was." which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission learned something! Where are the gems?" again." "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to The summons was a brief and urgent one. "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert "Murdered?" is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or "No. What a strange idea!" key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful of the one which your family is now devouring." of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard What do you deduce from it?" main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the which was all perfectly true. man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen. clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some