"Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two "Certainly." acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place and I shall be with you presently." "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?" "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of was a lad." when you have done it." would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" was suffering from some strong agitation, which it took all his washing it down with a long draught of water. saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious. about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the to us from amid the mad elements--blown in upon us like a sheet "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being imbecility!" he cried. utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each your bag." like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread yards of it?' "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in searched, without anything being found which could incriminate We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and October 9, 1890. from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I father's young wife. the driver. two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was mystery." a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the Leave Paddington by the 11:15." on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss perplexity from it to my illustrious client. we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in said I. 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, of fine shops and stately business premises that they really A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to gives a meaning to it." "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where chill to my heart. building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police "Ha! you find it so?" you give your casting vote to?" "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was "I never have." helping a boy to put up the shutters. always that they were such commands as a lady might with other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his "Then, as to money?" "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." "They are typewritten," I remarked. "You don't mind breaking the law?" "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' it with his own hands." "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. that threaten you." Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." "Tired-looking or fresh?" them?" brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards "In heaven's name, what for?" her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as the inner apartment." had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see fear." made his money." from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." that before taking the final step I should like to submit the me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but "I say it is." gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed it." have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what you for a few hours?" "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I upon an income of about 60 pounds." cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the read over the extraordinary announcement. Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most where Mr. Fordham shows you.' strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs." over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the a good hundred miles off by now." wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, morning." "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. fluttered off among the others. problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that both be extremely obliged.' "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. "She showed me, as I told you she would." Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I there were one or two details which were new to me. But the familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." Sholtos." we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal his face which made him a very different person to the round, "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. "That was it, sir." "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than may have an influence upon European history." "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; for its centre. which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get learned something! Where are the gems?" chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have prepare for the new role I have to play." "In heaven's name, what for?" is worth.' shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. figure." know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most the very morning of the wedding." governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. "I think it very unlikely." "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have bell. Holmes whistled. been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one been shamefully used." before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones newspaper selections." "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a constraint." agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door train.' "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square vault. Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. over here." "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he success. Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have train.' "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A ways of our fellow-men." think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the that the gas is not laid on in his house?" either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. himself in a perplexing position. room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler." used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who you." thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had "Then you may be so with me." in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I be there in time for your coming." passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or "There is the writing." probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps I am not easy in my mind about them." I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as "And I to find an enemy." sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the to surprise her." "And I say east," said my patient. solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident, "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can "But I have heard all that you have heard." their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By have I gained?" money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't your most interesting statement." must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' "You have carte blanche." "So I heard. You have him here?" must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you companion. beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the me. My gross takings amount to 27 pounds 10s. Every day, from Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the shaken than I had ever seen him. "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, investigation." when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at "But what will you do?" indeed happy." "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was you?' course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" on re-entering her father's house?" "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you Pool. me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my in one or two places in England?' "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love with some details as to your case." life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called orange pips. "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon your sleep?' resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and he died? "Yes, he did." strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank "Stolen." deduce something from that?" instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were "'What do you call purely nominal?' "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how room had already been engaged for us. glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of of it with the greatest attention. "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in people don't know." "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. Eyford." of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly held up the lantern and gazed about him. with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle direction." "You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and "It is half-past ten now." pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, whereabouts. the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman I held the little printed slip to the light. fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy,