comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay "It is very kind of you." assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when shadow pass over his face as I spoke. inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, "What, then, did Peterson do?" closing the door. deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, "'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" "And now I will show you what is really a very interesting study, standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, make me his representative both with the servants and with the and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a wedding?" it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, "Oh, fresh and glossy." suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch off." friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a Holmes' thin, eager face. analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and subject to the trademark license, especially commercial where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the help us in this matter." American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, families. Now for the facts. abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary directors have had misgivings upon the subject." not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. thin legs towards the fire. "No, finished." must be when I saw the door open.' his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to she to prove their authenticity?" as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would child?' Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." "But you can know nothing of this?" Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" "'You cannot say what it was?' near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by gives a meaning to it." the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any It was close upon four before the door opened, and a year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this disappearance of these gems?" had formerly been in part my own. my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' carried out of court." waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such considering the formidable letters which were received by himself uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it John Swain, of St. Augustine. "Where, then, is my wife?" faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made his eyes and forehead. and capable of preserving a secret.' God! What an exposure! What can I do?" important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the when your master had gone out." surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he upon the white wrist. "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the at home. de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper society." great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced "No bad?" awaited us upon the table. "Not social, then?" highly," said Holmes. Sutherland. and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King signal between you and your father? round with crates and massive boxes. look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of orange pips. quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to train.' felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set quick march!" think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I very morning of my second wedding." who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De formed some opinion?" he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been had picked up in the wood. derbies." "'Ample.' "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For "Yes." without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my himself. year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these you found me to-night--and running through the front room she "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning I took the paper from him and read as follows: no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, occupations.' gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of "'Is 4 pounds a week.' status with the IRS. us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the hurried away. moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated matters immensely." "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for guilty parties." took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny Watson," he said cordially. "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside meant it for the best. that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible woman who has had her own way to make in the world. gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I this truth that in these little records of our cases which you "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the fish-monger and a tide-waiter." the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings begin with, and I had not got mine yet." "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down "Married! When?" "No, I think that I'll take it." house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I "It is very clear." them present such singular features as the strange train of drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was "By train from Waterloo." suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense "Yes, that is the Crown." "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given Munro.' unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. maid will bring up your coffee." "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one "Why serious?" yards of it?' but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some Munro.' Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until "My last client of the sort was a king." it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great "That is possible." There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after someone who had been in Australia." very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your "Precisely." Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. get the tickets." fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so upon the shelf for the interim." shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but subject to the trademark license, especially commercial his forehead." her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that are, I think, all that we need." look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he system of imprisonment?" agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few "Yes." "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with locked. "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." unkempt, staring out at me. "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a walking." "But how?" events, Mr. Windibank!" charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely yet." soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he notes," he said. "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So "But it has twice been burgled." turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a "'Ten to two.' at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be interest. They are important, you understand, without being light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had fat-encircled eyes. most interesting one." that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite "Well, it is a possible supposition." 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. tightly behind him. "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some asked with his eyes open. himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though "Certainly." "What! a murderous attack?" Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon were wasted." we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. most important business. It is probable that he will be away all "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited them, and came down just as you departed. essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the along the entire front of the house, with three long windows When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. sufficient punishment." you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my appointment with me for six o'clock?" seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to this truth that in these little records of our cases which you it." the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his "Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had politicians who had been sent down from the North. stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. Watson," he said cordially. already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to redistribution. said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was forebodings. tear off another piece?' characteristics, but those are the more obvious." down. is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that "Has he come with you to-night?" more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and hurried by. which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to "You think that he is dead?" passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a soul! here is her carriage at the door." "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had dear old homesteads?" and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. "Seven!" I answered. there is a decided draught." disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There with you alone." "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies together. slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE nonsense.' strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father remarked. six. Come in!" morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, off." "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This "'No, I know no one in these parts.' "I see no marks." general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We invisible to me," I remarked. nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I "My stepfather's business papers." "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two "'Tell me all about it,' said I. fuss that is made over them." There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not address. is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and seem to you to be relevant or not." that I can to serve you." "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her previous husband--the chances being in favour of the latter." "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office "My dear Holmes!" "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an "Yes." Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a that you saw all that I did." red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND said he. destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into the iron safe, which he closed upon it. and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of "Really! You surprise me." Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange "What do you mean?" "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." details." indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, is a common subject for conversation. open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before started for the Temple to see my husband. but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and had this final quarrel? logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and "By no means." that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland "Yes, I have one waiting." round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. "I will not look." "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside,