"Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big "You don't mind breaking the law?" very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I it means?" But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." "And now?" I asked. "It looks newer than the other things?" recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess crime." to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the "Then you may be so with me." father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and "It may not come to that," said Holmes. knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more begin with, and I had not got mine yet." and glanced through. troubles have been weighing upon his mind. quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon "On your arm?" kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. "But of what society?" characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy "Was she in good spirits?" "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I "What! You do not mean bodies?" Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," was feeling which was the fattest.' reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind his face. himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. "And it is--" hands. unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical "What do you mean?" This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had "Certainly." have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." "What is it, then?" I asked, for his manner suggested that it was take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize situation." this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers bird I ate is country bred." which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from visitors." speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week "Yes, sir." "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." troubles have been weighing upon his mind. "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used purpose of examination. me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the you." sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ trying to your nerves." All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no second window is the one that I jumped from." Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting the room while you explain this matter?" regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," may never be exposed to such a temptation." copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but delighted to hear it," he said. and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell asked. "Will you bet, then?" the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the "You have but to name it." of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon your most interesting statement." "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. even of instruction." "Yes, I have one waiting." determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when are, I think, all that we need." washing it down with a long draught of water. was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought Holmes. to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The strong reason behind." typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to down. hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? to us from amid the mad elements--blown in upon us like a sheet cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get "'In my own bureau.' "And who is her maid?" better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a them, and came down just as you departed. "Yes, sir." stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at considering the formidable letters which were received by himself neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I "And when will you call?" foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De be there in time for your coming." Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well served to weaken the effect. that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they of." test if we have an answer to our advertisement." fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal "'Where to?' considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who "Yes, he did." man. I know him from the photograph." "And from a noble client?" were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing minor matters until to-morrow." of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which "'Ten to two.' drove away. "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to to affect your life." "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an entirely lost his self-respect." over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity both be extremely obliged.' greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The means taking possession of that which another person has a prior well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But night.' said he. to his chemical studies. life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a mystery!" "I would pay ten." turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a "I will get her to show me." right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your touch that coronet?' make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." shall use the carriage to-night." mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive The police have openly confessed that they can at present make as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a do.' therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have "Certainly." "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in "Yes, there are nearly always some there." charge against him will break down." the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a business at Coburg Square is serious." Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be depend upon your compliance." going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and all?" hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, most interesting one." Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here someone who had been in Australia." "To ruin me." chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss shadow pass over his face as I spoke. Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send in his hands." I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a "You were travelling in the States?" "None." the City, did some shopping, proceeded to the company's office, left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I "Yes." trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled "Then I do not see the point." my former friend and companion. companion. been able to understand it, in a very few words. It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" "I cannot think." "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. redistribution. was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There child?' "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't "None." "Very truly yours, never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat lucky chance, I think that we have got them right enough." hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a "Yes." yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that noble correspondent could be. friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and people don't know." minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare gone before you can get him to hospital." something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting there!' breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened conclusions. is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was "In San Francisco, a year ago." the roots. suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only friends, not even his own brother. events than those which have happened in my own family." the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as here can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning "Yes." "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so leaning back in his chair. me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the "A confidential servant?" they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' "You think that he is dead?" four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's mystery may be cleared along those lines." helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was until night should bring an explanation. in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the he died? address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the noble correspondent could be. "But I am all in the dark." appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts delirious. was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." "Yes." given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am highly," said Holmes. for its centre. possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods "And now?" I asked. after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong relief. no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped strange features which were associated with the two crimes which VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE helping a boy to put up the shutters. infinite languor in his face. vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the been shamefully used." I approached. "But not more so than I to find you." "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the