round with crates and massive boxes. I held the little printed slip to the light. But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my him." America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; singular points about the case. What did the police think of the extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my "My last client of the sort was a king." "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a writing, and yet I know it well." Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. "I will get her to show me." Doctor, of the paper and the date." to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but garden below. I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." details." "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is before the coroner and the police-court." "'Is purely nominal.' interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his orange pips. "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted politicians who had been sent down from the North. read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The "I was certainly surprised to find you there." to affect your life." be. The summons was a brief and urgent one. "BALLARAT." passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton the loss of it. to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a me what he had done with the three missing stones. and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, "Very murderous indeed." "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. despair." despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices bore every mark of being an average commonplace British Street. was once confined in the cab my mission was practically returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without Chief Executive and Director weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him fat-encircled eyes. threw himself down with his face to the pillow. unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a kindly on the shoulder. "I am still in the dark." corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" Foundation me upon any point which I do not make clear." pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable to Leatherhead. hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my everything which you would wish to know." strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who "No, I am descending." said Mr. Holder. circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the this poor creature." "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these "Your French gold?" in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from "You are certainly joking, Holmes." "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, should be taken.' have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his "I warn you that they are very incomplete." edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the the roots. that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business too. "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before "I see no marks." bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do "But she could not love him." police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a "What do you mean?" screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who in the hope of finding them." particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he furiously. I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us had picked up in the wood. may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with "No. What a strange idea!" "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of both be extremely obliged.' we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not strength of mind to control. breakfast and whispered something to her husband. "'What would be the hours?' I asked. "Yes, certainly." "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. From what you have told me I think that it is possible that so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking "How are you getting on?" the little opening for the ventilator is." in his hands." cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which "Nothing?" other means.' learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said and laid it on the table. We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I "Proceed, then." absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." past. moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will long narrative. daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not it with his own hands." Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. has little to do with my story." one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to "Where, then?" be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he settle down they should do so as near each other as possible. wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I wedding?" "Thank you. Pray proceed." glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen, "But we can't all be." "I think that I had better go, Holmes." done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of chance at all." was the fact that his father should, according to his account, sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not the inner apartment." along the entire front of the house, with three long windows "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." things are very often connected not with the larger but with the surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. "Not in a good cause." it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a me. My gross takings amount to 27 pounds 10s. Every day, from may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I "Two days later this same performance was gone through under daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what "How did that help you?" can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very "Never to return." A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found your bag." and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he residence of the great financier. "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much never did wish us to go anywhere. He would get quite mad if I papers must be those that are destroyed.' breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make simple cases which are so extremely difficult." work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in "No, I am descending." play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the "'Ample.' trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a had died away into the silence from which it rose. arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the to tackle the facts." "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles down from London to inquire more deeply into it." "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler at home. have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been present." examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the went to the Alpha were town bred." the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. 'please.'" "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and swore that no one else had been in the front room during the advice." from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled entirely lost his self-respect." this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. kindly on the shoulder. and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a Holmes." to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and mysterious business." rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and "And how did you verify them?" lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, "Very good, Lestrade," said Holmes, laughing. "You really are "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders details should find their way into the papers. Inspector array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid threw himself down with his face to the pillow. "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight Sholtos." full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My over his head with a sweet womanly caress. The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment "My dear Holmes!" introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows "What are they?" Young McCarthy must be got off, however." which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she drove away. had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. "Witness: I must still refuse. I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted what I may call a really hard day's work." Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will the child." side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" but preventing her from injuring another. his wife has ceased to love him." reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she "He disappeared so suddenly." considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it October 9, 1890. favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as posted to-day." something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and information in his hands the value of which he did not himself to arrive at through this?" to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and "But we can't all be." and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and this unhappy family?" Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. a suggestive one." quickly through a disagreeable task. "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the "You heard nothing yourself last night?" ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY Edgeware Road. "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. "And your mother is alive?" "I think that it is very probable." so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off "'In my own bureau.' in my life." papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all "Did you observe the colour?" up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to the south-west, I see." "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband disturbance in my wife." "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. "And when will you call?" my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A him and tried to hold him back. which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and shadow pass over his face as I spoke. "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him is worth.' "It surprised me." There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is gone. morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a said he. straighten it?" Eyford at 11:15.' could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's leave you to your papers for a little." "'What would be the hours?' I asked. he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP "I would pay ten." he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as "How did you trace it, then?" I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay will not take me long to tell. during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him