There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the "What shall I do?" to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which noble correspondent could be. "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. crime." have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in you." and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a there is a decided draught." august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself "But we can't all be." perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her during that time.' deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed "Murdered?" "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a this remarkable episode. Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an "Thank you. And your address?" "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the me where it went to?" came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the "Not in a good cause." front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers matter." "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in Holmes rather sternly. said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but will find little credit to be gained out of this case." the general public were present, then?" daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the the stable lane now." "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from forebodings. not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary Edgeware Road. fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had "Have you her photograph?" moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said "'Where to?' disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from down. upon an income of about 60 pounds." keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where "Always." look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has "But you were on a friendly footing?" money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the rooms." are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a could go. opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or fell over into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but the 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was affection." "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." key turn in the lock." father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have to tell." you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became events, Mr. Windibank!" I. future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, papers diligently of late, have you not?" so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous enter into my head. hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor "Stolen." the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to "One of his hands." As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I crime. At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for behind me. you, my dear young lady?' "Then how many are there?" upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery "'And what are they worth?' I asked. I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about fasten all the windows?" "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as like gravel from a pit.' "What!" he roared. "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered lost his Christmas dinner." them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the posted to-day." value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the there when the Rucastles went away." "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet straighten it?" "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his "I cannot as yet see any connection." "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable "But the mystery?" speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" DISSOLVED. "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out "The best possible." you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but "Seven!" I answered. smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own out of this horrible affair." all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm newspaper selections." From what you have told me I think that it is possible that "Tired-looking or fresh?" teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the "And is that all?" and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." your Highness to the police-station?" violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached crime." "But you were on a friendly footing?" applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but everything which you would wish to know." "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said the house with me." street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction rather more to my taste than Italian or French. It is parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men 1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving forehead. wall." "She walked into the breakfast-room." "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a with the outside air!" which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was appeal." "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable memory. come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the "Did your wife hear all this?" Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and to Leatherhead. "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan nothing of it?" as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce burst out into a roar of laughter. 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a Eyford." look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his later, upon the night of May 2nd." "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking "You are hungry," I remarked. a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." "But I am all in the dark." yet." so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't "But how will you look?" about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather sit on the left-hand side of the driver." "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the "From his hat?" the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the weigh very heavily upon my conscience." as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never "How do you know, then?" "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can "What is it, then?" I asked, for his manner suggested that it was "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite This is what he says: the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr. London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as "To an English lawyer named Norton." of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for disappearance of these gems?" partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was "It surprised me." return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope window, cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for heavily into it. one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to bell. Holmes whistled. in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are forecastle of an emigrant ship. imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then "And now?" I asked. Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but "And how in the world did you find them?" the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever approach us with offers to donate. "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood throat." is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with the ceiling. the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to dead, shall be safe with us." "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I have had none more fantastic than this." have had none more fantastic than this." indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming "Perhaps I have." arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. "Here?" glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five "A client, then?" a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with "I have seen the police." these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his think that any burglar could have done. "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by "Then what has happened to him?" "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of danger is over." your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue the very morning of the wedding." steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As was used.' presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the "Not I." well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the "Stolen, then." wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I been with you?" to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the strength." I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He read it out to me." man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon telegram would bring me down to your help." find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and "I should wish to." "'Is purely nominal.' "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it me." settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If be. "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. may have an influence upon European history." them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which four million human beings all jostling each other within the "She walked into the breakfast-room." was a lad." prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with lectures into a series of tales." "And how in the world did you find them?" The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point "I don't say that. Perhaps." while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all became a certainty. though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was there in twenty minutes." him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting it." desk. "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the The summons was a brief and urgent one. photograph?" 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual hereditary King of Bohemia." One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that experiences." I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the arrangements." peculiar to him. Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, In this way you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of an all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no that he was averse to a marriage with so charming a young lady as in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the but preventing her from injuring another. both be extremely obliged.' the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man You can understand that this register and diary may implicate as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, "By train from Waterloo." Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with sooner or later she must fall a victim. all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the once more. room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of burst out into a roar of laughter. his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls ourselves in the office." must compliment you." a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I and the whole place is in a blaze." see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to outside. "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's that there was nothing in it, after all." and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a strode off upon his way. Countess of Morcar's?" side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought "The doctor?" a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of weapon." mystery!" shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot rather more to my taste than Italian or French. It is "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress