dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room Sutherland. got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed "What have you done?" asked Holmes. as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This certainly not very gracious." "Then how many are there?" "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy of Mr. Rucastle's." "That is easily got." "They are typewritten," I remarked. trifles." you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, carriage. It was a chestnut." to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large very different level to your Majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To "'Why that?' I asks. the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' "Well, but China?" was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every upon the white wrist. "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are sit on the left-hand side of the driver." yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in sound at heart." Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do is four-and-twenty." even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** "Dr. Becher's." base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at "Because he was handy and would come cheap." thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the highroad, where all traces were lost. "'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, presume?" building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were before, for it was considerably after midnight. "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. "I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if husband's writing, madam." to where he stood hid behind the curtain. power." adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a outlined against the flood of light, one hand upon the door, one End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had "You have it, sir, just as it happened." heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be off." of Mr. Rucastle's." that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that "The Coroner: What do you mean? did not hear it also.' by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out "I have come for advice." Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a "Nothing?" dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" Leadenhall Street--and--" lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. "Which are?" remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your "'About the same.' "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over I nodded to show that I had heard. return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry "No, I had a dozen." thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to or in danger--" have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off definite end. he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by figure." certainly do as you advise." outside." "I was mad--insane." cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said will not take me long to tell. no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent my foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for "How on earth--" room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office the salesman. certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was cheerful." corner of the building. defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. Pool. chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely "Yes." papers must be those that are destroyed.' "I think that I had better go, Holmes." You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in "Why serious?" over here." "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. rooms." "Nothing?" confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection you want, then?' the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of of Mr. Rucastle's." the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom roused himself from his reverie. "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I rather more to my taste than Italian or French. It is "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. open." "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and here can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found "You have compromised yourself seriously." "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was never to learn it at all." lumber-room." old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say "From his hat?" "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." "Your presence might be invaluable." "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?" "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. to arrive at through this?" it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly "There is the writing." hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all "It is half-past ten now." and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence "And that is--" knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom your co-operation." possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm which should have the effect of calling the attention of the speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We door?" beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. "Nothing." seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange "No bad?" lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily "From his hat?" one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your heavily into it. "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the them present such singular features as the strange train of "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at during which he might have communicated with his friend the "Very much so." conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off "What will you do, then?" very peculiar words of the dying woman?" have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its tear off another piece?' "And you don't know his address?" and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I his knees, staring into the fire. Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no "'Oh, no.' however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. "But to whom?" "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," weapon." beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire asked. dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as had this final quarrel? I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a the Friday. Was it to be in church?" points in connection with it which never have been, and probably a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the upon an income of about 60 pounds." "One horse?" interjected Holmes. with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good "To an end?" ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official and that he would see to anything that turned up. "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ you for a few hours?" woman." James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we has little to do with my story." before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my must be when I saw the door open.' few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. could not have written that. It is the German who is so I am not easy in my mind about them." down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't is now desirous of getting those letters back." clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United "But your client--" back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten "'There is a drive, then?' his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a was the fact that his father should, according to his account, Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the union?" time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you appointment with me for six o'clock?" wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this "Perhaps we may make them less so." "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his "And did you observe any change in her then?" the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and "Not particularly." tell them apart.' travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about "You have done wisely," said my friend. "But have you told me impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every I nodded to show that I had heard. without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the "This photograph!" lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior him!" "Game for a morning drive?" drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. hand, madam?" Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of face and glided from the room. kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" despair." difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in seem to you to be relevant or not." wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment "Not in a good cause." have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and "It is true that I have been generally successful." little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was at a side door. pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell "Where, then, is my wife?" public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every one which it was hard to resist. simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It bonnet, and went out." down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil and the whole place is in a blaze." disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to "'Stolen!' he cried. of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the "Not yet." property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a likely to be some crony of the landlady's." The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been now. It seems that there had been some informality about their "When did she vanish, then?" "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. wife's character?" you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I look dissatisfied." anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment