once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me "You'll never persuade me to believe that." dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased the King without delay." long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the better in every way that they should make their position a little end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door fishes. company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone Sutherland?" on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could over his head with a sweet womanly caress. uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some "Then I can wait in the next room." have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is "I don't say that. Perhaps." copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a "Did your wife hear all this?" "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the it were putty." room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or Farm upon the left." Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into events, Mr. Windibank!" orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets writers could invent nothing more crude." "How are you getting on?" and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save "That you are never beaten." d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to "Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose late!' for securing the situation." bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself did not hear it also.' Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" in. "Indeed, Doctor," said Holmes blandly. "Pray take a seat." I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a matter over." been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the "So it appears." whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't "'As governess?' noble correspondent could be. the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very closing the door. "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you long narrative. cheerful." intrusion of other matters." is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an photograph?" "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in front of me. "Then what has happened to him?" it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or "No, I am descending." the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will "I am about to be married." "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small "Certainly, madam." from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. present." his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas bell. Holmes whistled. "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who "In heaven's name, what for?" force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his ready to-morrow?' "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, "And help." wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, "'Yes, I promise.' "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded "The best possible." With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes "Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly, is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no down in his armchair and closing his eyes. headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and correct than the official force." "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am that he will be back before evening." "To an English lawyer named Norton." those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the foot. the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I guilty parties." see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much "What is it?" License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from to have been novel and of interest." information in his hands the value of which he did not himself night.' said he. the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We "Eh? What was that?" We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from "Was the window open?" "No, my brougham is waiting." "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a at once, for I have only half an hour." "But your client--" King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the "Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good "I should be immensely obliged to you." "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my there were so many in the whole country as were brought together I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the Street. beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from you." our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side the stones. "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he into the bag, and made for the door. door?" the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in "Have you her photograph?" "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers Eyford." make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the any little problem which you may submit to me." who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced and a shock of very red hair. Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic that you can jump it.' "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. "Have you it here?" man. I know him from the photograph." returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. rooms." advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the to change my dress. All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. "It looks newer than the other things?" "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. papers." which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most Where does the thing come from?' lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called instincts rose up against that laugh. grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an "I think it very unlikely." eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." completely overtopped every other consideration that we both It was close upon four before the door opened, and a bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the swore that no one else had been in the front room during the companion quietly. "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' she used." nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! "What have you done?" asked Holmes. offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon him." dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and someone who had been in Australia." dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and "Tired-looking or fresh?" clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." "You will not go there first?" American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO returning from some small jollification and was making his way used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look "Very well, sir. And this stone?" persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, observe it at the time. Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, absolutely follow my advice in every respect." here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, own family. woman." follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to "It missed him, then?" "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the "But you can know nothing of this?" "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, served to weaken the effect. because she had spent so short a time in this country that she conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a mysterious end." When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to "'Ample.' Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was frequently gained my first real insight into the character of pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I examination traces of blood were to be seen upon the windowsill, errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, second window is the one that I jumped from." rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can and your relations to her." at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the you?' myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. colonel looking down at me. weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might not interfere, come what may. You understand?" "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was "What I expected to see." "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my "So I have heard." the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I roused himself from his reverie. simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late name is different." fact, we may call it conclusive." It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for What do you deduce from it?" may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent "Was she in good spirits?" been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really chance at all." my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked "I cannot tell." them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and washing it down with a long draught of water. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE I held the little printed slip to the light. enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with there in twenty minutes." "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and waste of energy." abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. went to the Alpha were town bred." I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that the stable lane now." towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of you." and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New official police." heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I "I beg pardon." were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the "How can you tell that?" "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just "I cannot tell." to affect your life." received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was "I was afraid that you were engaged." than to us. the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help ventilator." with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" of fine shops and stately business premises that they really "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe strength." the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his discontent upon his features. As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. "And when will you call?" "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such "I cannot think." of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you congenial hunt. them, and came down just as you departed. were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself have one." presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I "'Stolen!' he cried. "Pray tell us what has happened to you." she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then American. Then who could this American be, and why should he observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are against a man in the prime of life?" key of the affair now." and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs as he folded up the epistle. "Really! You surprise me." "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his Watson," he said cordially. the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to them?" had no one to advise her at such a crisis." to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and true." "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent "What then?" examination traces of blood were to be seen upon the windowsill, his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?" strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, "Dirty?" vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. look upon these things in a different way." description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' "Yes." eavesdroppers?' "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her "That is it on the dressing-table." the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of writing, and yet I know it well." "'How far from the body?' of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord