until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my horse could go." spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he something of him before." "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its "You horrify me!" "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." make me his representative both with the servants and with the to tackle the facts." strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but "Now, then, what's the last entry?" when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is the matter." unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, My friend smiled. "I see no marks." chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis back into the street. I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! the roots. "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the "But what harm can there be in that?" follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should mystery may be cleared along those lines." there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it "No, I am descending." make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" "It is very kind of you." scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who You can understand that this register and diary may implicate and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has "I don't say that. Perhaps." outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and had formerly been in part my own. layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at made his money." crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. "Did he not advertise?" an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the without a word or a look. myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect in the hope of finding them." made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the "It is possible." this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down "That is not always so easy." Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this "And how did you verify them?" Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in But Holmes shook his head gravely. "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the exactly what you advise." Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, "Seven!" I answered. he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all them present such singular features as the strange train of "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses astonishment. having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did "He said that you could solve anything." "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do your bag." was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by remarked. think you a quite exceptional woman." photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This here can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the "You horrify me!" cheerful." yards of it?' "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had fuss that is made over them." suddenly upon us." right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the to take care of herself." II. American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be clang of the bell. "It missed him, then?" "Pray do so." work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw "You are all wrong." Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. your sleep?' his knees, staring into the fire. "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. "How about poison?" the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary at once, for I have only half an hour." impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into nothing with him." "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all "How about poison?" again, where I was soon asleep. chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. "I have hopes." people don't know." story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes." if she died from some sudden fright." upon the shelf for the interim." "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did "That also I could fathom." earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had breakfast." feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort client, rising. wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There "The King of Scandinavia." "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he my room." not fit the lock." nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I "And Irene Adler?" The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. man. bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" "To ruin me." thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To over his head with a sweet womanly caress. "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you there!' business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I "Stolen." "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. "I will do it." Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, all-comprehensive glances. than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he "I guessed as much." lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he hardly wander." all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the lucky chance, I think that we have got them right enough." as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now do." once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be "Have you her photograph?" in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the carpenter." are, and they are waiting for us." that you wished to speak to me?' years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve made him keep the appointment." and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do the devil!" sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a "'About the same.' "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, "How on earth--" her also." Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, gigantic client. or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you to where he stood hid behind the curtain. believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to "What, then, did Peterson do?" room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's only touch the interest." of the efforts of the United States government and of the better named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out "'Is 4 pounds a week.' have been better. It is all right." buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves "The landlord of the Alpha." chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. "Not yet." cost them two and thirty pounds." orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as the very morning of the wedding." dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black "Here?" Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I views." "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." politicians who had been sent down from the North. papers diligently of late, have you not?" populous neighbourhood." "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. "Yes, he did." "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is "Look there!" said he. given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call fear." "Then I can wait in the next room." "That you are never beaten." "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose "Which are?" "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I observe it at the time. Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a "Have you her photograph?" so far?" gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a morning." order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the "Where is it, then?" the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over at a side door. stood on the top of it. Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, leaning back in his chair. very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and followed. evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had his forehead." "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would meant it for the best. his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him my friend's incisive reasoning. them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by "One of his hands." maid will bring up your coffee." Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed and your relations to her." seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to "I will get her to show me." glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second "Pray tell us what has happened to you." Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed "We must sit without light. He would see it through the by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive "Yes, but only for you and me." dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an have one." have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was despair." effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my "What?" characteristics, but those are the more obvious." be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two she used." after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few returned to France?" and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's brain must have something in it." deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his fattened it expressly for you.' formed some opinion?" "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. me, and I could not think that his explanation of the "Then he might have called to you?" in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend lectures into a series of tales." very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I allusion to a rat. "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, Miss Holder?" "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." "It is possible." course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She kindly on the shoulder. will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried "'Where could I find him?' large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he "'Tell me all about it,' said I. have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position "I will not look." from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed less than 26s. 4d. that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as will find little credit to be gained out of this case." the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still conclusions. this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of "You have the photograph?" even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side will take you up to see the machine.' "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. "Witness: I must still refuse. distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' then?" problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, "At the wedding breakfast." "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he "Then I do not see the point." "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned habit of advancing money.' consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think forehead. and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock and your relations to her." impression behind it as though a window had gently closed least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable "Stoke Moran?" said he. study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature more terrible than the truth. "It certainly sounds feasible." once more. "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. your bag." "A confidential servant?" "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just test if we have an answer to our advertisement." "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to face which spoke her joy. "I have been waiting so eagerly for And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his "And is that all?" shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which whatever might befall. The telegram which we eventually received came late one night rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in chair. "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH over with notes and figures. jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. recover the gem." come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to "My last client of the sort was a king." advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client