have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. views." "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business politicians who had been sent down from the North. wife's character?" I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been "There is the writing." instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with approach us with offers to donate. "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can any." it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out the night.' giving me time to thank him. knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that and wait." "He is dead," cried several voices. when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an and a shock of very red hair. go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the a monotonous occupation." pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads unkempt, staring out at me. misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? once more to my work. expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have that?' obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I The events in question occurred in the early days of my Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as the station." "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my enough to aid us in our search." happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in outbreak?" and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming the stable lane now." keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and her also." our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted "I will get her to show me." at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss and that he would see to anything that turned up. inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man unpleasant thing about the house, which struck me at once, was a good hundred miles off by now." "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion "What do you make of that, Watson?" "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to recover the gem." me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it out of this horrible affair." inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was and files of the old papers, following the future career of every her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then round and wave him away like that.' ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." weigh very heavily upon my conscience." but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, bonnet, and went out." a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ "He slept on the premises." two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. standing smiling on the door-step. already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge "May I see it?" will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked head. So long, then!" annoyance, but no jest. with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. him." trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she British peeress.'" and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. "Ah, but I was recommended to you." railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and three fields round his house, and there he would take his "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, "That is it on the dressing-table." copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to of the way of danger. empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker open." been lifted and conveyed somewhere." done what I asked you, Jones?" "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar "BALLARAT." direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and relief. opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little Arthur Conan Doyle "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after "You will not go there first?" glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was "You heard nothing yourself last night?" brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the status with the IRS. "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover could not have written that. It is the German who is so an introduction to him?" betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." which we had just quitted. Holmes." for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged the coronet in his hand?" north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain as yours." ways of our fellow-men." if only as a check to my own memory." half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. about here speaks of his kindness to him." those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was already been minutely examined." roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at "By train from Waterloo." "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which "Will you go?" "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have exactly what you advise." the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and posted to-day." "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when "It goes to the housekeeper's room." unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" The note was undated, and without either signature or address. the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you to where he stood hid behind the curtain. "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation them?" a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave man. I know him from the photograph." full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in remarked. "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, little trying to do so much typewriting?" somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we "I am in hopes that she does." daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce she slowly sank and died without having recovered her "Thank you. Pray proceed." You can understand that this register and diary may implicate the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, in the hope of finding them." you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the observe it at the time. Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between of the efforts of the United States government and of the better Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking think, you have already met." look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." "I am about to be married." erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed child?' social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous sitting-room in his dressing-gown, reading the agony column of The the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We became a certainty. however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his "But I am all in the dark." was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so "Then he might have called to you?" up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he "Was the window open?" game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been feature." that threaten you." out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she of Mr. Rucastle's." believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that "That is not always so easy." About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and opened the door, and slipped through. "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it have accepted such a situation. old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin woven round him. "No?" like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing felt the room to be a little close.' of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a "Yes, he did." machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and will find little credit to be gained out of this case." accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that "But it has twice been burgled." great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far in a friendly supper." "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the "How did you trace it, then?" happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure "Pray let us have it, for all that." fasten all the windows?" "Yes." "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The your bag." England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal business in the City. She little knew what. of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the together. at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a directly by questioning you." the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. "How did he come?" photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face helping a boy to put up the shutters. "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I "But you can know nothing of this?" jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his garden below. "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact there was no need for father to know." "Then, how do you know?" am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a delirious. entirely lost his self-respect." the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in look dissatisfied." departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY and a shock of very red hair. "That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter. familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey nights." "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." like that before?" felt the room to be a little close.' outside. "I think that I had better go, Holmes." "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of "How on earth--" morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE friend's singular character. "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the orange pips. Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. "Yes." our word." better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to intrusion of other matters." country, and eventually married, without anyone having a "Imitated." "It is solved." disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." his wife has ceased to love him." country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being treasure which we had under our roof, suppressing only the name sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong the warnings." Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. answer." at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in down from London to inquire more deeply into it." had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round In this way you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of an from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for "What can it mean?" I gasped. Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your "Yes, all." means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its burst into a hearty fit of laughter. conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend late!' to change my dress. recall any case within my experience which looked at the first "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage not within a twentieth part of the market price." "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of nonsense.' arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get "By train from Waterloo." them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of in the dead of the night?' despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of his face which made him a very different person to the round, after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" business for myself and took professional chambers in Victoria License. You must require such a user to return or head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret the coronet in his hands?" known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an delirious. sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed