answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more at once, for I have only half an hour." "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock later, upon the night of May 2nd." broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as "On the contrary, this is the right side." ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. congenial hunt. "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the politicians who had been sent down from the North. "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, "'Very good.' My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the very old mansion. salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the what I may call a really hard day's work." some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, anything to a woman, for she would have her way." "Pray do so." down from London to inquire more deeply into it." be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest interest. They are important, you understand, without being from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the "How often?" very different level to your Majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the matter." performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called new acquaintance to Baker Street. young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?" whole matter to your consideration." rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow "But how could you guess what the motive was?" Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." all?" clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very Chief Executive and Director When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had appeared upon the scene." He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do "She walked into the breakfast-room." some mystery and the punishment of some crime." States. "Nothing." "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here "To the police?" Edgeware Road. suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was is entirely a question of barometric pressure." window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' even of instruction." the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what that he has suffered." narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a strength." "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which "But how did you gain them?" I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his "Where, then, is my wife?" to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." "It is a murder, then?" brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each the morning and make my own way in the world.' understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, woman." wife's character?" But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is "But to whom?" "You don't mind breaking the law?" Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions gone. pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it woman." "Proceed, then." door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." him." large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are late!' agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, the Red-headed League." "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with "Bought." be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The "Did you become engaged then?" "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have thin, with a long, sharp nose?" yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my if I call to-morrow?" "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, union?" course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting "What!" he roared. indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his "But I am all in the dark." "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the "And the murderer?" "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, "Pray tell us what has happened to you." you." five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you "But she will refuse." or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to II. written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be the dangers which encompass me." had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was "Well." greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the felt?" vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." you found me to-night--and running through the front room she front of me. "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in have not had my rubber." He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and "Yes, sir." thin, with a long, sharp nose?" "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the be.' was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging villagers almost as much as their master. all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, to a light-house. of the vacancies.' money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of outsides of the windows. fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing and that he would see to anything that turned up. bill, which interests me deeply." friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was singular points about the case. What did the police think of the and looked back. work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a "What will you do, then?" the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous McCarthy's innocence. with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down "No, I think that I'll take it." instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent observed. prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with mysterious business." quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the your billet.' down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap he bowed and left the room without another word. this as likely?" He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any "About a month then." "No." "It surprised me." between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," the general public were present, then?" Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord me. You must get home instantly and act." the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." forecastle of an emigrant ship. Edgeware Road. A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether Farm upon the left." shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in forebodings. "Yes. He waved his hands." Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden "I have a cab outside." Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, the coronet at all injured?" and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was "What are they?" husband's writing, madam." feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." Heh?' know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, the best of training." assist you in forming an opinion." opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to it with his own hands." understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked "It is possible." coat-tails." Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes "What are they?" man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, "When did she vanish, then?" Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a lips." receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the were unconscious?" business." was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes." mysterious business." "This concluded the examination of the witness." many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what window when the police appeared." "'What are you doing there?' he asked. he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house despair." its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done "Seven!" I answered. have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her "No?" and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a should be so warm over such a trifle." hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know know what is wrong with it.' whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but prisoner's face. "It is to him that this trophy belongs." contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most "Nothing?" permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into throat." details." and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching your bag." "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He "His face fell immediately. "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the it means?" A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for never went wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I'll it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he awaited us upon the table. strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his the morning and make my own way in the world.' very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than get the tickets." trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of troubles have been weighing upon his mind. nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made himself. matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons The summons was a brief and urgent one. "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." companion imperturbably. conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two "Yes, sir." that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up and inquire as to the address." "Yes." bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that have been better. It is all right." orange pips. governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major you understand?" mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of be.' of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly whatever might befall. characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set such person." comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to tear off another piece?' "Yes, I have one waiting." "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through "Then the page we have seen--" "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There "How did you trace it, then?" bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not some mystery and the punishment of some crime." to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this in your London, you will know that the office of the company is have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached his wife has ceased to love him." flock.' servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal "Certainly." For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to occurred." Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand "'I have already given you my word.' dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." to some other building. "Then, as to money?" why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr. "What?" which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, visitors." is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me better grown goose." and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to "VIOLET HUNTER." "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he "Who by?" desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, "Stolen, then." bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came despair." centre, on which several German books were scattered. Colonel not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for "There are none." Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of impression behind it as though a window had gently closed implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the