One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, might have a private word with us. "What, then, did Peterson do?" girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found lids now and glanced across at his visitor. 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You "None." train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect "Yes." "Then what has happened to him?" husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner "Who by?" Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with carried out of court." bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men been with you?" I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of threw himself down with his face to the pillow. union?" refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the looking up at the numbers of the houses." cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" "You don't mind breaking the law?" with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. third from London." instituted." works. See paragraph 1.E below. were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I "And you thought he was pulled back?" with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste But Holmes shook his head gravely. could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would trifles." front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought "BALLARAT." of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to place, I think that there is good ground to think that the we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the next day. round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain Serpentine Avenue. "At half-wages, in fact." a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that to that open window." regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are passage and a tap at the door. thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, "'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, to a more successful conclusion." "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a least a fellow-countryman. son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. "In San Francisco, a year ago." it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow to me. one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into newspaper selections." Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this sentimental considerations in the background which would induce "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards companion imperturbably. was lame." "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before I was concerned in it." "Then you may entirely rely on me." Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': questionable one." conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past prove to be little relation between the different incidents of for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an at a side door. came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: green of the new foliage. horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his works. "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To whatever might befall. her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." "You have compromised yourself seriously." first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of "Do you know him?" The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the client, rising. I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper comes from the middle window." something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I the child." "And you thought he was pulled back?" "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone "But how could you guess what the motive was?" "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. "I think that it is very probable." any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a the very morning of the wedding." nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, several quiet little villages up there." in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: "But what harm can there be in that?" http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ unkempt, staring out at me. she might be summoned. face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free "In heaven's name, what for?" "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door made him keep the appointment." "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was of Fenchurch Street." crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. papers diligently of late, have you not?" rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible Watson," he said cordially. "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the here." gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with "No sign of it?" assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, "When did it break out?" "You have carte blanche." opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making shall use the carriage to-night." "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of since then to throw any light upon what became of him." red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's "Here?" "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. wanted for ourselves." that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the have been better. It is all right." be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs them?" the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will British peeress.'" inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? do you make of it all?" are, I think, all that we need." one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for "What! Had he lost his wife?" not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can of note-paper. It read in this fashion: death." a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. before the coroner and the police-court." his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." "You forget that I know nothing about it." akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. to take care of herself." the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and and looked back. serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather "But you would not advise me to refuse?" waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such did not hear it also.' Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the Clair, of Lee." "I think it very unlikely." depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, his cane at the bell-pull. slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I "You horrify me." We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short rooms." envelope. who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" clanging. some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys was keenly on my guard against him. "Certainly." near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, anything to a woman, for she would have her way." paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite constraint." young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." copied or distributed: have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, me where it went to?" permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" think that any burglar could have done. that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic bears upon the case?" "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was "Why did you pick him?" was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional depend upon my doing so.' possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of row." I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent "My photograph." cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few four million human beings all jostling each other within the "None." That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not "What of the rat, then?" "'Then let me do so?' a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The "'No, I know no one in these parts.' higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in a room. indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to this Miss Turner." might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case seven miles from Eyford Station.' hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. acquaintance?" one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now bonnet, and went out." not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and morning." usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at to that open window." bed dies. Does not that strike you?" had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." "'I am sure that I do not know.' his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at country, and eventually married, without anyone having a from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special "'Never,' said I. his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my in darkness. One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their records." "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from some terrible trap for her." vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be "Whose house is it?" clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean that you saw all that I did." to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate "'Yes, it was gone.' master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was "'Yes, sir.' half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and "I am all attention, madam." crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." the driver. which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, and capable of preserving a secret.' bearing upon the case." "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this down. is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of fashion which was peculiar to him. what do you think they found in the pockets?" gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the and the whole place is in a blaze." "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow everything which you would wish to know." it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." putting in the horse. would apply.' attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room "No good news?" happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague and a shock of very red hair. waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is anything to a woman, for she would have her way." his huge brown hands. his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid "I will, Miss Turner." that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there companion. round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this "Nothing?" to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. name is different." supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" excitement. gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than just called myself is not exactly my own." fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, "That is easily got." tear off another piece?' very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and to have been novel and of interest." is entirely a question of barometric pressure." over part of the map. "What do you read?" to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was "Murdered?" "Yes, sir." tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself