Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the all-comprehensive glances. 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper perplexity from it to my illustrious client. suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. have an American origin." has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster begin with, and I had not got mine yet." will he say when he returns?" ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned Holmes' face clouded over. garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and "And Irene Adler?" goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. awkward doing business with an alias." the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the points to suicide?" "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should recover the gem." strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. "No." a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she leave you to your papers for a little." heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united rather more to my taste than Italian or French. It is "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to singular points about the case. What did the police think of the "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup your sleep?' urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to "But she could not love him." "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and murdered man." "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be strength." awaited us upon the table. congratulate you again." to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end problems help me to do so." do.' poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a thin, with a long, sharp nose?" "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and the running down." stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the promised to bring home. to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to triumphant cloud from his cigarette. like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. of a light. course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that "It may not come to that," said Holmes. old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door narrative." "And is that all?" nonsense.' England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and "Indeed, Doctor," said Holmes blandly. "Pray take a seat." broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the the iron safe, which he closed upon it. "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a "But she will refuse." his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against that I can to serve you." "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, "Certainly." "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had constraint." They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the strange features which were associated with the two crimes which thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." "If I can be of use." creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and you understand?" to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there "'Yes.' Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of "Imitated." "So it appears." "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. "By no means." rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the deduce something from that?" to take care of herself." he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my them present such singular features as the strange train of before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, "No." future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned "And how have you succeeded?" "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other "Well, but China?" "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his back into the street. "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a "Very murderous indeed." and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have unclasping of his long thin hands. "If I can be of use." registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls late." really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I with frightened eyes at his accuser. cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might not within a twentieth part of the market price." the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press persecution?" the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my "How did that help you?" after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, "That was it, sir." grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the "How did you deduce the select?" lost nothing by them." "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. is so. I know all about McCarthy." waste of energy." very old mansion. He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working stepfather?" "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows woman who has had her own way to make in the world. "And did you observe any change in her then?" that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah "The rest you will leave in our hands." "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the once more for Briony Lodge. in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been answer." "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the "None." "What! Had he lost his wife?" the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she into the room. But Holmes shook his head gravely. upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable interested in these little problems, and since you are good memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and ordinary clothes on?" re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window round with crates and massive boxes. "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, least a fellow-countryman. "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which photograph a cabinet?" this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet "Yes, it would be as well." repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. "Then, as to money?" from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the "What will you do, then?" never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported "No more words. Get out!" really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled to a more successful conclusion." "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the lost his Christmas dinner." "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in "I was mad--insane." "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her "Why, it's a dummy," said he. in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. spark where all is dark to me." "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who "I don't believe it." he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and views." his knees, staring into the fire. Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and "Holmes, the busybody!" an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can any more." which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special once more on the important position which you have been fortunate smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her "Was there a secret marriage?" was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer You can understand that this register and diary may implicate him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of leaning back in his chair. enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the returned to France?" "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' hurried away. were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about the bed, and you in that chair." he. an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as not within a twentieth part of the market price." bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I at home. "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a did not hear it also.' "Here?" a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback "I assure you that I am in your hands." him to go away.' so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given "But he might be a bachelor." "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." "Your presence might be invaluable." "And help." about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, strode off upon his way. James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could third from London." And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this Surrey." myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the sake, don't!" to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time written, and locked the door of the office after me. "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your "Did you observe the colour?" "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must train.' him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. province." dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She third from London." came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming "Then you may entirely rely on me." d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said lost his Christmas dinner." and it need not interfere very much with one's other "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I only touch the interest." would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that "The doctor?" groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now "Now, then, what's the last entry?" innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect call you and give you the chance." could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son sentimental considerations in the background which would induce "Quite so. She has her freedom." as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that matter." "My opinion is in no way altered." not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower up this clue while it is still hot." far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell you in yours." in the dead of the night?' "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I hurried away. "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough of receipt of the work. is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty Street. sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, In this way you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of an pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." "My own seal." was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a "In San Francisco, a year ago." "What! a murderous attack?" machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" "Then I do not see the point." "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the words came to my lips. room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he "No." And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? very peculiar words of the dying woman?" All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me Countess of Morcar's?"