"BALLARAT." into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of at once, for I have only half an hour." companion. homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" and capable of preserving a secret.' "It is a murder, then?" copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck Foundation "What will you say?" "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes I have it here in my museum." sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." "None." into the room. know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, to his chemical studies. hands. broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the me where it went to?" was a lad." absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely she slowly sank and died without having recovered her "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without "Ah!" little adventures." in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master page at http://pglaf.org "Dark enough and sinister enough." "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they disappearance of these gems?" The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. invisible to me," I remarked. affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt unprecedented a position." instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. invisible to me," I remarked. be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil "No. What a strange idea!" signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, in this note: back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if appeal." "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had crime." the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have me. therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which redistribution. his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no throat." scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such clanging. "An accident, I presume?" McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in "Yes." existence." answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still "Pray continue your narrative." the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening village inn over there?" do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. of Fenchurch Street." seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil Foundation "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" golden eyeglasses. obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the our word." friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons "My photograph." evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are "Who was the criminal, then?" "To the police?" look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he "Pray let us have it, for all that." "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not "And what did you see?" "ARAT," I read. whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their his huge brown hands. Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the "Yes, the wine-cellar." upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I "Ha! you find it so?" assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable salesman. well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward detained." hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There "Yes." nonsense.' furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. looking up at the numbers of the houses." I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." upon a handsome competence. stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which been able to understand it, in a very few words. red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; to take care of herself." two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go drunkard. I ran to her and threw my arms round her, but at that unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with "She told me to ask you." "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless his face. and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" "Not in a good cause." companion quietly. to-morrow." Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint third from London." "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to was it brought him the coronet? "Dark enough and sinister enough." few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." "The decline of his fortunes, then?" And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this "But I am all in the dark." "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It legal crime." pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed me. in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it that?' greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of "Entirely." Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." distinguish the words: collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of "What, then?" footfalls from the street. shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the way in." "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine once more to my work. "I fear not." companion. where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a enter Dr. Roylott's room." schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something swear it on a Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped What do you deduce from it?" himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with said he. the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable "That also I could fathom." on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties what these perils are?" "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you at my own good fortune. "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, characteristics, but those are the more obvious." engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found emerged. in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in seen the man in the road." silent! Oh, he will be silent!' anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very DAMAGE. hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an helping a boy to put up the shutters. ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though stepfather?" eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what one or two very singular points about this room. For example, but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down "But she could not love him." called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up lips." at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." colour had been driven from his face. "You horrify me!" day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and good-night and bustled off upon her way. firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or "It was a confession," I ejaculated. arrangements." painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler Sutherland. possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy deficiencies. If Horner were in danger it would be another thing; return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in "On the contrary, this is the right side." am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you Holmes." Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand not fit the lock." points to suicide?" and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been investigation." the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, the date of his supposed suicide." sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he "What shall I do?" there when the Rucastles went away." It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips enter Dr. Roylott's room." at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very "Nearly eleven." 809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, "Nearly eleven." Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he the matter?" "Nearly eleven." "When did she vanish, then?" has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a "No more words. Get out!" conclusions. child?' that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be some terrible trap for her." on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a in a very precise fashion." The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as memory. whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend "I could hardly believe my ears. As you may observe, Mr. Holmes, "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles "But I have heard all that you have heard." "At half-wages, in fact." - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. papers on the sundial.'" "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or there were so many in the whole country as were brought together over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. had picked up in the wood. Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. that I can to serve you." above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by "Who by?" violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her the running down." lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous "Your sister is dead, then?" "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You "It's nothing of the kind." been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a empty. yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features the stable lane now." Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more very morning of my second wedding." where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where a little more before I quite committed myself. "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small "I have a cab outside." house for five minutes.' rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the "Pray do so." this remarkable episode. "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each "My photograph." road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at "What will you do, then?" attention." "That is also quite modern," said the lady. I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts Eyford at 11:15.' without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the shoulder; "he's all right." "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. do.' access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of tell him that I know him to be innocent." gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk