wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of to us from amid the mad elements--blown in upon us like a sheet serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by "Not social, then?" unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught a suggestive one." do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, "I cannot tell." workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too begun to whiten, even as mine has." shag which I had seen upon the previous night. he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY returned to France?" suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which the general public were present, then?" all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, placed his cuttings. handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer burst into a hearty fit of laughter. "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." tail." "Yes, only one." the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you "But your client--" a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its over with notes and figures. "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which call for protection in the marriage market, for the present My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a of the way of danger. the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in the side-table." stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a went to the Alpha were town bred." over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I "Pray do so." which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an "I cannot think." "You horrify me." jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the "So it appears." information in his hands the value of which he did not himself "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of followed. from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You "Pray do so." the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his breakfast." request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been ill-usage at the hands of fortune. "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but to arrive at through this?" nonsense.' Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a "In the cells." went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he she to prove their authenticity?" The note was undated, and without either signature or address. "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon "'Very good.' "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the this Miss Turner." McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a that you wished to speak to me?' "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well "But you were on a friendly footing?" imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, "Not I." approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," suddenly upon us." "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain "'What do you call purely nominal?' as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the written. peculiar to him. used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who quick march!" Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had families. Now for the facts. Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which humiliation." "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two and laid it on the table. characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about "Why did you beat the pavement?" little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible money should be paid at once.' word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I quick march!" will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very to a light-house. "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no business." though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then is a common subject for conversation. methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes respectable self." How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your that I may have something better before very many minutes are Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is bell. Holmes whistled. returning from some small jollification and was making his way mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and was a lad." was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much golden eyeglasses. copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to of a light. decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where "Yes." d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the shoulder; "he's all right." heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold "Yes." my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here "Bought." prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had "No legal papers or certificates?" "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." nothing of it?" woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. newspaper selections." "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I was used.' have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. until night should bring an explanation. treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go there." 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to awkward doing business with an alias." shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. "BALLARAT." "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the "And how in the world did you find them?" He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as she has been waylaid. There has been no result." eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer views." "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to suggested at once that there must be a communication between the as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it his cane at the bell-pull. he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest best detective that ever lived. "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. "Yes, I have one waiting." desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly weapon." gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely that there was nothing in it, after all." arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement "Entirely." "Ample." "Then I do not see the point." done what I asked you, Jones?" some water from a caraffe. it? Did I buy the geese off you?" strong and stiff." "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of "Dr. Becher's." "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this "'How far from the body?' or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my him standing by the pool. He appeared to be much surprised at be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a weary and pale-looking. matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my which should have the effect of calling the attention of the as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, morning." statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is you found me to-night--and running through the front room she James Windibank. Voilà tout!" course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the "He might." he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. locked. Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a green of the new foliage. force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She "To ruin me." distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or absolutely follow my advice in every respect." would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of "I do." "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. License. You must require such a user to return or And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable garden below. "'Where to?' "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back "What do you mean?" "I will get her to show me." sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern situation." "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly existence." discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The "I think that it is very probable." "Pray be precise as to details," said he. The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he newspaper selections." one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always fact, we may call it conclusive." "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out individual and becomes the badge of a society." acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told Miss Holder?" to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are should be so warm over such a trifle." though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. the bottom.' accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think "And your mother is alive?" Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to "You think that he is dead?" "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at "Deserted you?" endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It lucky chance, I think that we have got them right enough." "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that will be renamed. Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his "'Certainly not.' of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open burst out into a roar of laughter. acted in my house last night?" It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure you for a few hours?" the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" woman." to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's fire. You quite follow me?" and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather strange features which were associated with the two crimes which bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary yet." and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees was used.' matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." "No, I think that I'll take it." learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account was lame." matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted "'Yes, I promise.' "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy "It is his hat." wanted for ourselves." assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." and effective." over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our "What is it, then?" I asked, for his manner suggested that it was hopeless attempt at recovering them." woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr.