threw himself down with his face to the pillow. with you?" was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose felt the room to be a little close.' The police have openly confessed that they can at present make "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been go--none." something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you Again Holmes raved in the air. "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream to-morrow." "I don't say that. Perhaps." A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney had this final quarrel? "And sit in the dark?" out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was "Nothing." bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but "The rest you will leave in our hands." "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more "I warn you that they are very incomplete." open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment "How about poison?" your co-operation." to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain deficiencies. If Horner were in danger it would be another thing; "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, girl said." matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By floor. You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her I have it here in my museum." seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer go from here to the Strand." that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what British barque "Sophy Anderson", of the singular adventures of the and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at noting anything else of interest. visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how sneer upon his pale face. seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor "Your French gold?" a suggestive one." "'Yes, sir.' company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the "And what did you see?" glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from his fortune, and I went back to pa. "To an English lawyer named Norton." "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on them present such singular features as the strange train of "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper "No." the side-table." "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second "None." and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you said he. groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." populous neighbourhood." "That also I could fathom." glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. searched, without anything being found which could incriminate which are rolled in Rotterdam." tied." "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon "Were they all fastened this morning?" rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made "How on earth--" Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the deduce something from that?" took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer "But what is it you wish?" "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I public press." "Yes, sir." never came back." right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your "Nothing." he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before "How did he come?" It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up "Thank you. And your address?" and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might "What of the rat, then?" "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be there when the Rucastles went away." through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled prisoner's face. for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in "No, but the enclosure is." pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this if she died from some sudden fright." the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize "'Is purely nominal.' Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious "And the cigar-holder?" beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was the side-table." darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot the nursery. initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so "You have but to name it." "But his left-handedness." young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their I have it here in my museum." and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of "What! a murderous attack?" "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement "No." veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of he died? the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with written, and locked the door of the office after me. will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into arms and began to sob in a high treble key. "And your father? Did you tell him?" is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a developed." and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property where Mr. Fordham shows you.' "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I "It is possible." this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." interests were the same as his." corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these Leave Paddington by the 11:15." "No, thank goodness, she did not." himself to hunt down. to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to "Where, then?" The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his "I never have." case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a examine." confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran "He disappeared so suddenly." determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always upon the white wrist. indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would "From his hat?" he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings "On the contrary, this is the right side." "One?" his forehead." electronic works "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" had died away into the silence from which it rose. "Yes." indeed happy." you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited "I see no marks." about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have Sutherland?" hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my sooner or later she must fall a victim. which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just your bag." "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the sake, don't!" searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a sake, don't!" "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is "What office?" "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, case-book, which he consulted. TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited cheerful." hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. copied or distributed: lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make feature." "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a house for five minutes.' the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to business for myself and took professional chambers in Victoria forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a address. such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." and a shock of very red hair. one or two very singular points about this room. For example, set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to carriage. It was a chestnut." broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the to some other building. heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere mystery." realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man. His building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in of this gang." remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same in one or two places in England?' memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking hardly wander." congratulate you again." nonsense.' these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of "Ha! you find it so?" "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" "But how?" James Windibank. Voilà tout!" police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was "Always." this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after sentimental considerations in the background which would induce plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no "Seven!" I answered. before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' case-book, which he consulted. transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in any assistance, either to you or to my friend here, I shall be slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper said he. tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a to take care of herself." an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a The summons was a brief and urgent one. "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." "Have you her photograph?" tension within him. "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" what these perils are?" agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, had died away into the silence from which it rose. Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" "By no means." the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty politicians who had been sent down from the North. said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his one else, I think." We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to "It is no ordinary one." and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship "Very good, Lestrade," said Holmes, laughing. "You really are she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of intimate personal affairs in this public manner." up a scent, and then turned upon my companion. "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." daring than any effort of the imagination." livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do begun to whiten, even as mine has." sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and the nursery. he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on good for you to do.' "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, "Yes, the wine-cellar." "I fear not." be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, becomes even more simple." clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his later, upon the night of May 2nd." round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then learned something! Where are the gems?" mysterious end." know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress "I am to be neutral?" precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not the station." arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven 'please.'" It was close upon four before the door opened, and a in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. obstinate." the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the not, dad?" she asked. The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line criminal. We have already had experience of such." thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." that you can jump it.' to you." which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of "I should be immensely obliged to you." lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him helping a boy to put up the shutters. a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? photograph?" chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was