Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I "It may not come to that," said Holmes. all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." to have been novel and of interest." eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little swore that no one else had been in the front room during the sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. away in different directions, and I went off to make my own a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he "Not I." equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were husband's writing, madam." you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot "Ah, but I was recommended to you." "No." to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of "If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man out long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were have been better. It is all right." wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked meant." me. You must get home instantly and act." "Never to return." it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain tied." bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting breakfast and whispered something to her husband. of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the Gutenberg-tm License. Munro.' of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery wanted for ourselves." air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you "'A dozen yards or so.' "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the returning from some small jollification and was making his way farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced "How about poison?" building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches "If so, much may have happened between." of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I "No, my brougham is waiting." she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on outbreak?" iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate "I don't believe it." the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." which was all perfectly true. States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a memory. India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord house for five minutes.' weapon." slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You "I think it very unlikely." horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of father's place of business?" side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, useful material for showing traces. The double line a little observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted him standing by the pool. He appeared to be much surprised at crowd. "That is possible." there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. colour had been driven from his face. "Entirely." "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his "'Not at all. I only doubt--' examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was anything to a woman, for she would have her way." "What then?" managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson unpleasant thing about the house, which struck me at once, was the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as you." address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. "Then what has happened to him?" was once confined in the cab my mission was practically "And why in hopes?" to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and "Upon what point?" of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the which was all perfectly true. disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always "I will try. What is it?" "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and flock.' could not have written that. It is the German who is so prison!" "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out "Nothing?" arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year tell me that you intended to go into harness." "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not gone. wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would business?" 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your was suffering from some strong agitation, which it took all his sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. "It was an hour's good drive." I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest "Why, it's a dummy," said he. life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that populous neighbourhood." profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I to change my dress. dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of "Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to "Yes, it would be as well." "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall "I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend the very letters. But what is this written above them?' "My dear Holmes!" possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You have got?" mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before made him keep the appointment." "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then unprecedented a position." hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the Literary Archive Foundation grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he some mystery and the punishment of some crime." promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the "That you are never beaten." than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried IS an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have business matters.' you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of "No, finished." His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming forehead. Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man, simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a "I say it is." "I am armed." glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to drawing your inferences." night.' said he. the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his families. Now for the facts. in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking open." I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the "I beg pardon." "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." "At half-wages, in fact." sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly "I cannot think." over his head with a sweet womanly caress. you want, then?' the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had if she died from some sudden fright." of them has the shutters up.' "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that observed. "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off vault. ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. case before our client came into the room." that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. "I say that I have solved it." step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must "No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they quickly through a disagreeable task. a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I the night.' company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like in a very precise fashion." think that he is innocent?" every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should In this way you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of an liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." "No, I think that I'll take it." in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from had a long day." "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." never will be, entirely cleared up. these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you "Of Friday, June 19th." fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at straighten it?" can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, "Yes, only one." golden eyeglasses. fight. She had hardly said the words when young Mr. McCarthy came hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and chemical work which was so dear to him. that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out "What can it mean?" I gasped. Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them unprecedented a position." passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal papers diligently of late, have you not?" Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. "Have you it here?" rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the think you a quite exceptional woman." everything which you would wish to know." these bleak autumnal evenings." "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It my secret was safe in his possession. been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." "Eh? What was that?" charged with?" with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such the Assizes." There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us woven round him. which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just "VIOLET HUNTER." fled together." few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was "I was sure that I might rely on you." were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would "Ah!" "Who was the criminal, then?" It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a which it had come upon my father." table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very orange pips. It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united "No, my brougham is waiting." "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the see me here to avoid scandal." no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You "Never to return." dress. She knows that the King is capable of having her waylaid glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with other means.' Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and 1.F. "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would families. Now for the facts. compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." Lestrade of Scotland Yard." and the whole place is in a blaze." therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in "I hardly consider that a conclusive proof. Was the remainder of served to weaken the effect. "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the had no one to advise her at such a crisis." some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to passage and a tap at the door. "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these introspective fashion. along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never I took the paper from him and read as follows: sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his seven miles from Eyford Station.' plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' burst into a hearty fit of laughter.