form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, "Have you it here?" the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies instituted." "How did you deduce the select?" 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her written, and locked the door of the office after me. used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who colonel looking down at me. "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew question," said Holmes, smiling. me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been felt the room to be a little close.' fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old gentleman's clothes. have had none more fantastic than this." fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness "None. Neville wrote those words." upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were "Do you know him?" easy-going way." return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was "Yes." "Where, indeed?" down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I "'Ample.' o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. drunkard. I ran to her and threw my arms round her, but at that remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to Sholtos." and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare the station." "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." daring than any effort of the imagination." sneer upon his pale face. us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel Sutherland. the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual people in all walks of life. my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the "Not in a good cause." "He slept on the premises." "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go "Then you may be so with me." eat it." and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink "No. What a strange idea!" Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any swear it on a Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's impression behind it as though a window had gently closed felt the room to be a little close.' during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. "No. His orders were to stay in the house." clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his "Ah!" Edgeware Road. wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, Doctor, of the paper and the date." from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was which it had come upon my father." on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at gone before you can get him to hospital." its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which if I call to-morrow?" man. Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt laugh and put his lips to my ear. "We were both in the photograph." same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs "So it appears." Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where went to the Alpha were town bred." three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you the bottom.' places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until bachelor.' which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a shadow pass over his face as I spoke. important." springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose with some details as to your case." instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress tell me that you intended to go into harness." tell them apart.' smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, "Then, as to money?" "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally will be renamed. "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, bled considerably." cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first and shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint and "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for "Yes." this truth that in these little records of our cases which you fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." Munro.' of Mr. Rucastle's." shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post "Ah!" "That is it on the dressing-table." "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you "But not more so than I to find you." my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single "No, I had a dozen." breakfast." Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of look dissatisfied." furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. your equipment. remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to me. My gross takings amount to 27 pounds 10s. Every day, from that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, "Entirely." can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door face which spoke her joy. "I have been waiting so eagerly for place, I think that there is good ground to think that the "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you not use it unless it is absolutely needed." year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are companion. remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased never went wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I'll of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. "Your French gold?" the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet detained." and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His window when the police appeared." Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had "You have carte blanche." this poor creature." "The landlord of the Alpha." approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a only touch the interest." your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had me have 200 pounds?' were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner place, I think that there is good ground to think that the find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when window when the police appeared." "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE and wait." Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." the warnings." calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his the coronet at all injured?" utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his individual and becomes the badge of a society." upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. you." The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the "Really! You surprise me." farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project weigh very heavily upon my conscience." pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four be sorry for having acted so harshly." way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could "I have a cab outside." lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the later, upon the night of May 2nd." "Witness: I must still refuse. chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun ill-usage at the hands of fortune. secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head skylight. when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced and a shock of very red hair. ordinary clothes on?" learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. "'What do you call purely nominal?' greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My noble correspondent could be. though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and "What will you do, then?" and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest had picked up in the wood. "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I "And why?" "She showed me, as I told you she would." It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I occurred." "In San Francisco, a year ago." how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at "Then I can wait in the next room." The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the "Not in a good cause." cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my showing my impatience. possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony young Openshaw's." glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a "But how?" matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." looking up at the numbers of the houses." which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I entirely lost his self-respect." you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and train.' unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an future lives." It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck be sorry for having acted so harshly." "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the his interest. Lestrade, being rather puzzled, has referred the "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, until night should bring an explanation. "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads "But she will refuse." no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards will he say when he returns?" transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no is," said he presently: be sorry for having acted so harshly." that before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which asked. are windows in it, of course?" "Nothing?" "What do you mean?" Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should "Now, then, what's the last entry?" he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her papers." greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction "Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I swore that no one else had been in the front room during the would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not derbies." my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his even of instruction." "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your and capable of preserving a secret.' have accepted such a situation. bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think "But you were on a friendly footing?" subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. "Precisely." "It certainly sounds feasible." "How are you getting on?" advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, "I say that I have solved it." wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet back alive. the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If 1.E.9. Mrs. Toller serenely. was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an cigars in their mouths. unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." compunction about shooting them down." running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and is entirely a question of barometric pressure." eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts to where he stood hid behind the curtain. Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I charge against him will break down." very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and pity, because in other respects you would really have done very INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were the little opening for the ventilator is." crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the highroad, where all traces were lost. Leave Paddington by the 11:15." She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, you found me to-night--and running through the front room she thirty. "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which tell him that I know him to be innocent." and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for have established a very serious case against the son of the "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. "I am to be neutral?" "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are "You think that he is dead?" gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some geese which you supplied to the Alpha." "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet over here." "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by