"Not in a good cause." their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has "I think it very unlikely." to you." "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her you give your casting vote to?" matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is "I say it is." Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in is," said he presently: dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against companion. interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and and no precautions can guard against." "A thing like a cleaver," said he. time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting "You heard nothing yourself last night?" round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never bachelor.' it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some been deceived." work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong "I hardly consider that a conclusive proof. Was the remainder of make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about disappearance of these gems?" my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I invisible to me," I remarked. walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw not personally threatened." death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' unpleasant thing about the house, which struck me at once, was It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" "And on what day did he meet his death?" revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man, hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. "Nearly eleven." facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he "It is no ordinary one." "'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to "'What do you call purely nominal?' you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he License. You must require such a user to return or little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an tied." however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the "Precisely so. But how--" security.' that I can to serve you." conceal it?" smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to come either from the window or the door. My attention was dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that himself. "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. clang of the bell. seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the in. contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." throat." wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to character. shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. that he has suffered." and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. "I cannot tell." met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my asked with his eyes open. down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend Holmes' thin, eager face. considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. placed his cuttings. shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of strong reason behind." "You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the at once, for I have only half an hour." "I will, Miss Turner." "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' British peeress.'" therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' ill-usage at the hands of fortune. sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let bore every mark of being an average commonplace British him standing by the pool. He appeared to be much surprised at "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage interest. They are important, you understand, without being "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." late." mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely "Yes." this man was intellectual?" in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very heavily into it. "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to fattened it expressly for you.' naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for politicians who had been sent down from the North. three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my easy-going way." surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for "But how?" square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. "It looks newer than the other things?" as noiselessly as she had come. round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A "Two days later this same performance was gone through under "No more words. Get out!" "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" mysterious end." down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a reach." to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. "'Where could I find him?' Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. "I shall most certainly do so." not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another him, that man would not have given me such complete information trifles." firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his sparkled upon his finger. appeared upon the scene." destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. looking up at the numbers of the houses." old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I nonsense.' safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was such person." my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the "And you can do nothing until then?" I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered photograph?" "Where did he live, then?" of it with the greatest attention. weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. and the colonel ushered me in. where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united delighted to hear it," he said. in the hope of finding them." great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, the night.' and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In was a loud and authoritative tap. round with crates and massive boxes. elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. "So I heard. You have him here?" what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on delighted to hear it," he said. with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day purpose equally well?" possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm system of imprisonment?" the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that right! Sit down and let us talk it over." platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in "Why, what do you mean?" Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the train.' "I fear not." we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers place of silver." Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his the bottom.' and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into "Oh, fresh and glossy." "Yes, it was twisted." "'And the work?' expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. have one." which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that "Was there a secret marriage?" appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the "Perhaps I have." and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. "One?" league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, fish-monger and a tide-waiter." is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had "What steps will you take?" I asked. fish-monger and a tide-waiter." pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, "It is no ordinary one." villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up ago." are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport that I am arrested." him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow drunkard. I ran to her and threw my arms round her, but at that "Yes." more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked father's young wife. knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought "Why did you beat the pavement?" rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two "'I have already given you my word.' Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our "Quite so. She has her freedom." But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return shag which I had seen upon the previous night. back alive. smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with "It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able said I. a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel Henry Baker is a member." You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door read it out to me." "What! You do not mean bodies?" "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found "Very good, Lestrade," said Holmes, laughing. "You really are As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, that I am arrested." all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of 1.F. "I am to be neutral?" St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I like gravel from a pit.' in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took touch that coronet?' closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, "You horrify me." ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on business?" Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part the unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, tear off another piece?' serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the "You don't mind breaking the law?" at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At dear old homesteads?" the Red-headed League." the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the "'Certainly not.' at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that The King stared at him in amazement. my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." outbreak?" all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that considering the formidable letters which were received by himself "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets "But you were on a friendly footing?" rest is familiar to you. I am much indebted to you, sir, for a "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass "I promise," said Holmes. opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. Watson," he said cordially. swore that no one else had been in the front room during the whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had me. gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just now. after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my "Not him." stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes "But who is he?" "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can she has been waylaid. There has been no result." could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, meant it for the best. and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout run away and explain afterwards. I hadn't been at the table ten even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. of Fenchurch Street." "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white formed some opinion?" A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, business matters.' the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." carpenter." less than 26s. 4d. "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left "We must have a cab." waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another "I should wish to." going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But salesman. initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped "'Oh, no.' of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred the inquest, and which are worth considering." advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of until night should bring an explanation. explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened crowd. gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door once more to my work.