but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over be sorry for having acted so harshly." "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. "'What would be the hours?' I asked. coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But so.' some water from a caraffe. sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." "'Very good.' They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no I. of Fenchurch Street." touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, tell them apart.' than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property outbreak?" answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple intrusion of other matters." very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and morning." stammered. this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond side. "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. undoubtedly my uncle's." deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice "Frequently." pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a it right.' "'Then let me do so?' volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and papers on the sundial.'" legal crime." had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she she to prove their authenticity?" of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter despaired of." during that time.' would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting speckled band?" him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open asked. "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and have accepted such a situation. "I have solved it." chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss more solid." Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I room had already been engaged for us. remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the place, I think that there is good ground to think that the province." seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. the bed, and you in that chair." the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, "'Is purely nominal.' used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. "In the cells." hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, "Did you become engaged then?" observe it at the time. Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for "How did he come?" ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I "And from a noble client?" he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my upon the white wrist. "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so completely overtopped every other consideration that we both could not account in any way for the presence of the missing Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, to some other building. and no precautions can guard against." rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long one which it was hard to resist. "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the bell. Holmes whistled. "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, "'I am sure if I had known--' out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and "You have but to name it." "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker face which spoke her joy. "I have been waiting so eagerly for absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, "Pray let us have it, for all that." Pool. hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed "Very truly yours, Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to affair. "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the examine." "Nothing." the matter?" customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism province." which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the "'What would be the hours?' I asked. Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was it." "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke which I could not give. He asked for Alice. rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the indiscretion." Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as something of him before." "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely my friend's incisive reasoning. "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." here and I will read it to you: "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that mystery may be cleared along those lines." rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence drunkard. I ran to her and threw my arms round her, but at that pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and of campaign. were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a that I can to serve you." station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried to-night." which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round business." "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple said he. their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was "'I am sure if I had known--' that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. fasten all the windows?" observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most one else, I think." you." spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" speckled band?" slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and "Have you it here?" America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the the very letters. But what is this written above them?' they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting dear old homesteads?" on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled gentleman's clothes. Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into "And that is--" "Is he quiet?" "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a here." he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." "Will you go?" could not have written that. It is the German who is so it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler." beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the way in." "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, help us in this matter." "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I "Not I." "I shall most certainly do so." He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey electronic works my room." Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I the stones. the best of training." always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident "Ah, but I was recommended to you." "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black I shall communicate with you." "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and 1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low "My dear Holmes!" "You know me, then?" tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was "To an English lawyer named Norton." and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' the loss of it. there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always "Perfectly so." bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had ways of our fellow-men." spare." stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that and capable of preserving a secret.' "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say "Won't it ring?" "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here keep the flames under. Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I not use it unless it is absolutely needed." 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope and glanced through. "Where is it, then?" door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up depend upon your compliance." the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." "Witness: Nothing definite. she used." better grown goose." "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for "'In my own bureau.' "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. 'I should be able to look after that for you.' "Pray let us have it, for all that." dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of matter." "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. "How did that help you?" "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting to a light-house. International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" him to go away.' in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have thin, with a long, sharp nose?" conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a "No, I had a dozen." much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully "Yes." at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as your co-operation." "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise "And is that all?" contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear "You horrify me." to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." lids now and glanced across at his visitor. Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, stammered. deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If recall any case within my experience which looked at the first She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo advice." "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. way in everything. livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, "I don't say that. Perhaps." heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time "But how?" perplexity from it to my illustrious client. front of me. about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your one of them." "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting "But how?" "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." "That is also quite modern," said the lady. him standing by the pool. He appeared to be much surprised at "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a "'How far from the body?' delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a morning." and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until "Never." ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their or in danger--" "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very "If so, much may have happened between." could not account in any way for the presence of the missing "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently events than those which have happened in my own family." wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." "You have done wisely," said my friend. "But have you told me "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting "I was mad--insane." of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric awaited us upon the table. Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I From what you have told me I think that it is possible that violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our "More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, "And the murderer?" "Pray tell us what has happened to you." "How did you deduce the select?" but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of bedroom door." followed. Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. "He slept on the premises."