nicoguaro · November 28, 2024 21:38
diff --git a/sherlock.png b/sherlock.png
diff --git a/sherlock.py b/sherlock.py
 # -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
 """
 Created on Tue Jul 11 13:57:23 2017

 @author: nguarinz
 """
 from os import path
 from PIL import Image
 import numpy as np
 import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

 from wordcloud import WordCloud, STOPWORDS

 d = path.dirname(__file__)

 # Read the whole text.
 text = open(path.join(d, 'sherlock.txt')).read()

 # read the mask image
 sherlock_mask = np.array(Image.open(path.join(d, "sherlock_img.png")))

 stopwords = set(STOPWORDS)
 stopwords.add("said")

 wc = WordCloud(#font_path='EraserRegular.ttf',
               background_color="white",
               max_words=2000,
               mask=sherlock_mask,
               width=1800,
               height=1400,
               stopwords=stopwords)
 # generate word cloud
 wc.generate(text)

 # store to file
 # wc.to_file(path.join(d, "sherlock.png"))

 # show
 plt.imshow(wc, interpolation='bilinear')
 plt.axis("off")
 plt.show()
diff --git a/sherlock.txt b/sherlock.txt

 University of California • Berkeley 

 Gift of 
 THE HEARST CORPORATION 



 Hearsf Memorial Library 

 Case No. -.^._ Shf^If Ho. ^n^ 
 Drawer No. >_. (nv^r^fory No.?X75 

 "NOT TO B€ REMOVED FROM UBRARY " -:> / 
 V/ITHOUl Pl50Pt:< AUTHOSITY." *^ / 

 PROJ»K«rY Of N»<\R$T CORP. 



 Digitized by tine Internet Archive 

 in 2008 witii funding from 

 IVIicrosoft Corporation 



 iittpV/www.archive.org/detaiis/adventuresofsherOOdoyirich 




 THE GENTLEMAN IN THE PEW HANDED IT UP TO HER 



 [Page 238 



 ADVENTURES 



 OF 



 SHERLOCK HOLMES 



 BY 



 A. CONAN DOYLE 

 AUTHOR OF "MICAH CLARKE" ETC. 



 ILLUSTRATED 




 NEW YORK 
 HARPER & BROTHERS, FRANKLIN SQUARE 



 Copyright, 1892, by Harper & Brothers. 

 All rights reserved. 



 CONTENTS 



 PAGE 

 I.— A SCANDAL IN BOHEMIA 3 

 II.— THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE 29 

 III.-A CASE OF IDENTITY 56 

 IV.— THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY 76 

 v.— THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS 104 

 VI.— THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP 126 

 VII.— THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE 153 

 VIII.— THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND 176 

 IX.— THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB 205 

 X.— THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR 229 

 XL— THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET 253 

 XII.— THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES 280 



 ILLUSTRATIONS 



 "THE GENTLEMAN IN THE PEW HANDED IT UP TO HER " Frontispiece 

 "A MAN ENTERED" . Facing p. 8 

 "the door was shut and locked" " 4o 

 "all afternoon he sat in the stalls" .... " 46 

 "sherlock holmes welcomed her" ...... " 60 

 "glancing about him like a rat in a trap " . . " 72 

 "they found the body" " 80 

 "the maid showed us the boots " " 92 

 "'holmes,' i cried, 'you are too late*" .... " 122 
 "at the foot of the stairs she met this lascar 

 scoundrel" " 134 

 "'HAVE mercy!' he SHRIEKED" " 172 

 "'GOOD-BYE, AND BE BRAVE ' " " I96 

 "'NOT A WORD TO A SOUL ' " " 214 

 "'I WILL WISH YOU ALL A VERY GOOD NIGHT ' " . . " 250 

 "l CLAPPED A PISTOL TO HIS HEAD" " 278 

 "I AM SO DELIGHTED THAT YOU HAVE COME'". . . " 292 



 ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES 



 BDventure f 

 A SCANDAL IN BOHEMIA 
 I 

 j ^Sj ^ ^^ O Sherlock Holmes she is always the woman. I 
 ^ Sj^ have seldom heard him mention her under any 
 "Jp^ other name. In his eyes she eclipses and predom- 
 ^3^3^i^ inates the whole of her sex. It was not that he 
 felt any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, 
 and that one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise, 
 but admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most 
 perfect reasoning and observing machine that the world has 
 seen ; but, as a lover, he would have placed himself in a false 
 position. He never spoke of the softer passions, save with 
 a gibe and a sneer. They were admirable things for the 
 observer — excellent for drawing the veil from men's motives 
 and actions. But for the trained reasoner to admit such in- 
 trusions into his own delicate and finely adjusted tempera- 
 ment was to introduce a distracting factor which might throw 
 a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a sensitive instru- 
 ment, or a crack in one of his own high-power lenses, would 
 not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a nature 
 such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and 
 that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and question- 
 able memory. 

 I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted 
 us away from each other. My own complete happiness, and 
 the home-centred interests which rise up around the man who 
 first finds himself master of his own establishment, were suffi- 



 4 ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES 

 cient to absorb all my attention ; while Holmes, who loathed 
 every form of society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained 
 in our lodgings in Baker Street, buried among his old books, 
 and alternating from week to week between cocaine and am- 
 bition, the drowsiness of the drug, and the fierce energy of 
 his own keen nature. He was still, as ever, deeply attracted 
 by the study of crime, and occupied his immense faculties 
 and extraordinary powers of observation in following out 
 those clues, and clearing up those mysteries, which had been 
 abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time to 
 time I heard some vague account of his doings : of his sum- 
 mons to Odessa in the case of the Trepoif murder, of his 
 clearing up of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers 
 at Trincomalee, and finally of the mission which he had ac- 
 complished so delicately and successfully for the reigning 
 family of Holland. Beyond these signs of his activity, how- 
 ever, which I merely shared with all the readers of the daily 
 press, I knew little of my former friend and companion. 

 One night — it was on the 20th of March, 1888 — I was return- 
 ing from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to 
 civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. 
 As I passed the well-remembered door, which must always be 
 associated in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark 
 incidents of the Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen 
 desire to see Holmes again, and to know how he was employ- 
 ing his extraordinary powers. His rooms were brilliantly lit, 
 and, even as I looked up, I saw his tall, spare figure pass 
 twice in a dark silhouette against the blind. He was pacing 
 the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head sunk upon his chest 
 and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who knew his 
 every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their awn 
 story. He was at work again. He had arisen out of his drug- 
 created dreams, and was hot upon the scent of some new 
 problem. I rang the bell, and was shown up to the chamber 
 which had formerly been in part my own. 

 His manner was not effusive. It seldom was ; but he was 



 A SCANDAL IN BOHEMIA 5 

 glad, I think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but 
 with a kindly eye, he waved me to an arm-chair, threw across 
 his case of cigars, and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene 
 in the corner. Then he stood before the fire, and looked me 
 over in his singular introspective fashion. 

 "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that 
 you have put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." 

 " Seven !" I answered. 

 " Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle 
 more, I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. 
 You did not tell me that you intended to go into harness." 

 " Then^ how do you know ?" 

 " I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been 
 getting yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most 
 clumsy and careless servant girl ?" 

 " My dear Holmes," said I, " this is too much. You would 
 certainly have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. 
 It is true that I had a country walk on Thursday and came 
 home in a dreadful mess ; but, as I have changed my clothes, 
 I can't imagine how you deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is 
 incorrigible, and my wife has given her notice ; but there, 
 again, I fail to see how you work it out." 

 He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands 
 together. 

 " It is simplicity itself," said he •, " my eyes tell me that on 
 the inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, 
 the leather is scored by six almost paralled cuts. Obviously 
 they have been caused by some one who has very carelessly 
 scraped round the edges of the sole in order to remove 
 crusted mud from it. Hence, you see, my double deduction 
 that you had been out in vile weather, and that you had a 
 particularly malignant boot-slitting specimen of the London 
 slavey. As to your practice, if a gentleman walks into my 
 rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black mark of nitrate of 
 silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge on the side of his 
 top-hat to show where he has secreted his stethoscope, I 



 6 ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES 

 must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce him to be an active 
 member of the medical profession." 

 I could not help laughing at the ease with which he ex- 
 plained his process of deduction. " When I hear you give 
 your reasons," I remarked, " the thing always appears to me 
 to be so ridiculously simple that I could easily do it myself, 
 though at each successive instance of your reasoning I am 
 baffled, until you explain your process. And yet I believe 
 that my eyes are as good as yours." 

 " Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing 
 himself down into an arm-chair. " You see, but you do not 
 observe. The distinction is clear. For example, you have fre- 
 quently seen the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." 

 "Frequently." 

 " How often .?" 

 " Well, some hundreds of times." 

 " Then how many are there ?" 

 " How many ? I don't know." 

 " Quite so ! You have not observed. And yet you have 
 seen. That is just my point. Now, I know that there are 
 seventeen steps, because I have both seen and observed. By- 
 the-way, since you are interested in these little problems, and 
 since you are good enough to chronicle one or two of my 
 trifling experiences, you may be interested in this." He threw 
 over a sheet of thick, pink-tinted note-paper which had been 
 lying open upon the table. " It came by the last post," said 
 he. " Read it aloud." 

 The note was undated, and without either signature or 
 address. 

 "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight 
 o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you 
 upon a matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent serv- 
 ices to one of the royal houses of Europe have shown that 
 you are one who may safely be trusted with matters which are 
 of an importance which can hardly be exaggerated. This 
 account of you we have from all quarters received. Be in 



 A SCANDAL IN BOHEMIA 7 

 your chamber then at that hour, and do not take it amiss if 
 your visitor wear a mask." 

 " This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. " What do you 
 imagine that it means ?" 

 " I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize 
 before one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to 
 suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note 
 itself. What do you deduce from it ?" 

 I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which 
 it was written. 

 " The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I re- 
 marked, endeavoring to imitate my companion's processes. 
 " Such paper could not be bought under half a crown a 
 packet. It is peculiarly strong and stiff." 

 " Peculiar — that is the very word," said Holmes. *' It is 
 not an English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." 

 I did so, and saw a large E with a small g^ a P^ and a large 
 G with a small t woven into the texture of the paper. 

 " What do you make of that ?" asked Holmes. 

 "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, 
 rather." 

 " Not at all. The G with the small / stands for ' Gesell- 
 schaft,' which is the German for ' Company.' It is a cus- 
 tomary contraction like our ' Co.' P^ of course, stands for 
 'Papier.' Now for the Eg. Let us glance at our Continental 
 Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his 
 shelves. "Eglow, Eglonitz — here we are, Egria. It is in a 
 German-speaking country — in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 
 * Remarkable as being the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and 
 for its numerous glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my 
 boy, what do you make of that .'"' His eyes sparkled, and he 
 sent up a great blue triumphant cloud from his cigarette. 

 " The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. 

 " Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. 
 Do you note the peculiar construction of the sentence — ' This 
 account of you we have from all quarters received.' A French- 



 8 ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES 

 man or Russian could not have written that. It is the Ger- 
 man who is so uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, 
 therefore, to discover what is wanted by this German who 
 writes upon Bohemian paper, and prefers wearing a mask to 
 showing his face. And here he comes, if I am not mistaken, 
 to resolve all our doubts." 

 As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and 
 grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at 
 the bell. Holmes whistled. 

 "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, 
 glancing out of the window. " A nice little brougham and a 
 pair of beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's 
 money in this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." 

 "I think that I had better go. Holmes." 

 " Not a bit, doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost with- 
 out my Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It 
 would be a pity to miss it." 

 " But your client — " 

 " Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. 
 Here he comes. Sit down in that arm-chair, doctor, and give 
 us your best attention." 

 A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the 
 stairs and in the passage, paused immediately outside the 
 door. Then there was a loud and authoritative tap. 

 " Come in !" said Holmes. 

 A man entered who could hardly have been less than six 
 feet six inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a 
 Hercules. His dress was rich with a richness which would, 
 in England, be looked upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy 
 bands of Astrakhan were slashed across the sleeves and 
 fronts of his double-breasted coat, while the deep blue cloak 
 which was thrown over his shoulders was lined with flame- 
 colored silk, and secured at the neck with a brooch which 
 consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended 
 half-way up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops 
 with rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric 




 A MAN ENTERED 



 A SCANDAL IN BOHEMIA 9 

 opulence which was suggested by his whole appearance. He 
 carried a broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across 
 the upper part of his face, extending down past the cheek- 
 bones, a black vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted 
 that very moment, for his hand was still raised to it as he 
 entered. From the lower part of the face he appeared to be 
 a man of strong character, with a thick, hanging lip, and a 
 long, straight chin, suggestive of resolution pushed to the 
 length of obstinacy. 

 " You had my note ?" he asked, with a deep harsh voice 
 and a strongly marked German accent. " I told you that I 
 would call." He looked from one to the other of us, as if un- 
 certain which to address. 

 " Pray take a seat," said Holmes. " This is my friend and 
 colleague. Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to 
 help me in my cases. Whom have I the honor to address ?" 

 " You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohe- 
 mian nobleman. I understand that this gentleman, your 
 friend, is a man of honor and discretion, whom I may trust 
 with a matter of the most extreme importance. If not, I 
 should much prefer to communicate with you alone." 

 I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed 
 me back into my chair. " It is both, or none," said he. 
 "You may say before this gentleman anything which you may 
 say to me." 

 The count shrugged his broad shoulders. " Then I must 
 begin," said he, " by binding you both to absolute secrecy for 
 two years, at the end of that time the matter will be of no 
 importance. At present it is not too much to say that it is of 
 such weight it may have an influence upon European history." 

 " I promise," said Holmes. 

 " And I." 

 "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. 
 " The august person who employs me wishes his agent to be 
 unknown to you, and I may confess at once that the title by 
 which I have just called myself is not exactly my own." 



 10 ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES 

 " I was aware of it," said Holmes, dryly. 

 " The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every pre- 
 caution has to be taken to quench what might grow to be 
 an immense scandal and seriously compromise one of the 
 reigning families of Europe. To speak plainly, the matter 
 implicates the great House of Ormstein, hereditary kings of 
 Bohemia." 

 "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling 
 himself down in his arm-chair and closing his eyes. 

 Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the 
 languid, lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt 
 depicted to him as the most incisive reasoner and most ener- 
 getic agent in Europe. Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and 
 looked impatiently at his gigantic client. 

 " If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he 
 remarked, " I should be better able to advise you." 

 The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down 
 the room in uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of 
 desperation, he tore the mask from his face and hurled it 
 upon the ground. " You are right," he cried ; "I am the 
 King. Why should I attempt to conceal it ?" 

 " Why, indeed ?" murmured Holmes. " Your Majesty had 
 not spoken before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm 
 Gottsreich Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel- 
 Felstein, and hereditary King of Bohemia." 

 " But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting 
 down once more and passing his hand over his high, white 
 forehead, "you can understand that I am not accustomed to 
 doing such business in my own person. Yet the matter was 
 so delicate that I could not confide it to an agent without 
 putting myself in his power. I have come incognito from 
 Prague for the purpose of consulting you." 

 " Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once 
 more. 

 " The facts are briefly these : Some five years ago, during 
 a lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the 



 A SCANDAL IN BOHEMIA II 

 well-known adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt 
 familiar to you." 

 " Kindly look her up in my index, doctor," murmured 
 Holmes, without opening his eyes. For many years he had 
 adopted a system of docketing all paragraphs concerning men 
 and things, so that it was difficult to name a subject or a per- 
 son on which he could not at once furnish information. In 
 this case I found her biography sandwiched in between that 
 of a Hebrew Rabbi and that of a staff-commander who had 
 written a monograph upon the deep-sea fishes. 

 " Let me see !" said Holmes. " Hum ! Born in New 
 Jersey in the year 1858. Contralto— hum ! La Scala, hum! 
 Prima donna Imperial Opera of Warsaw — Yes ! Retired from 
 operatic stage — ha! Living in London — quite so! Your 
 Majesty, as I understand, became entangled with this young 
 person, wrote her some compromising letters, and is now desir- 
 ous of getting those letters back." 

 " Precisely so. But how — " 

 " Was there a secret marriage ?" 

 "None." 

 " No legal papers or certificates ?" 

 "None." 

 " Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person 
 should produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, 
 how is she to prove their authenticity ?" 

 "There is the writing." 

 " Pooh, pooh ! Forgery." 

 " My private note-paper." 

 " Stolen." 

 " My own seal." 

 " Imitated." 

 " My photograph." 

 " Bought." 

 " We were both in the photograph." 

 " Oh dear ! That is very bad ! Your Majesty has indeed 
 committed an indiscretion." 



 12 ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES 

 " I was mad — insane." 

 " You have compromised yourself seriously." 

 " I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but 
 thirty now." 

 " It must be recovered." 

 "We have tried and failed." 

 " Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." 

 " She will not sell." 

 " Stolen, then." 

 "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my 
 pay ransacked her house. Once we diverted her luggage 
 when she travelled. Twice she has been waylaid. There has 
 been no result." 

 "No sign of it?" 

 " Absolutely none." 

 Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," 
 said he. 

 "But a very serious one to me," returned the King, re- 
 proachfully. 

 " Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the 
 photograph ?" 

 " To ruin me." 

 " But how ?" 

 " I am about to be married." 

 " So I have heard." 

 "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter 
 of the King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict prin- 
 ciples of her family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. 
 A shadow of a doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter 
 to an end." 

 "And Irene Adler?" 

 "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she 
 will do it. I know that she will do it. You do not know 
 her, but she has a soul of steel. She has the face of 
 the most beautiful of women, and the mind of the most 
 resolute of men. Rather than I should marry another 



 A SCANDAL IN BOHEMIA I3 

 woman, there are no lengths to which she would not go — 
 none." 

 " You are sure that she has not sent it yet ?" 

 " I am sure." 

 " And why ?" 

 "Because she has said that she would send it on the day 
 when the betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be 
 next Monday." 

 "Oh, then, we have three days yet," said Holmes, with a 
 yawn. " That is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters 
 of importance to look into just at present. Your Majesty will, 
 of course, stay in London for the present?" 

 "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham, under the 
 name of the Count Von Kramm." 

 "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we 
 progress." 

 " Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." 

 " Then, as to money ?" 

 "You have carte blanche J^ 

 " Absolutely ?" 

 " I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my 
 kingdom to have that photograph." 

 " And for present expenses ?" 

 The king took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his 
 cloak and laid it on the table. 

 "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hun- 
 dred in notes," he said. 

 Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note -book 
 and handed it to him. 

 " And mademoiselle's address ?" he asked. 

 " Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." 

 Holmes took a note of it. " One other question," said he. 
 " Was the photograph a cabinet ?" 

 " It was." 

 " Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall 
 soon have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," 



 14 ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES 

 he added, as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down 
 the street. " If you will be good enough to call to-morrow 
 afternoon, at three o'clock, I should like to chat this little 
 matter over with you." 



 II 

 At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes 
 had not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had 
 left the house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I 
 sat down beside the fire, however, with the intention of await- 
 ing him, however long he might be. I was already deeply 
 interested in his inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by 
 none of the grim and strange features which were associated 
 with the two crimes which I have already recorded, still, the 
 nature of the case and the exalted station of his client gave 
 it a character of its own. Indeed, apart from the nature of the 
 investigation which my friend had on hand, there was some- 
 thing in his masterly grasp of a situation, and his keen, inci- 
 sive reasoning, which made it a pleasure to me to study his 
 system of work, and to follow the quick, subtle methods by 
 which he disentangled the most inextricable mysteries. So 
 accustomed was I to his invariable success that the very pos- 
 sibility of his failing had ceased to enter into my head. 

 It was close upon four before the door opened, and a 
 drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an 
 inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. 
 Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the 
 use of disguises, I had to look three times before I was cer- 
 tain that it was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the 
 bedroom, whence he emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and 
 respectable, as of old. Putting his hands into his pockets, he 
 stretched out his legs in front of the fire, and laughed heartily 
 for some minutes. 

 " Well, really !" he cried, and then he choked ; and laughed 



 A SCANDAL IN BOHEMIA I5 

 again until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the 
 chair. 

 "What is it?" 

 "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess 
 how I employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." 

 " I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching 
 the habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler." 

 "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell 
 you, however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this 
 morning, in the character of a groom out of work. There is 
 a wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. 
 Be one of them, and you will know all that there is to know. 
 I soon found Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden 
 at the back, but built out in front right up to the road, two 
 stories. Chubb lock to the door. Large sitting-room on the 
 right side, well furnished, with long windows almost to the 
 floor, and those preposterous English window fasteners which 
 a child could open. Behind there was nothing remarkable, 
 save that the passage window could be reached from the top 
 of the coach-house. I walked round it and examined it closely 
 from every point of view, but without noting anything else of 
 interest. 

 " I then lounged down the street, and found, as I expected, 
 that there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall 
 of the garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down 
 their horses, and I received in exchange twopence, a glass of 
 half-and-half, two fills of shag tobacco, and as much informa- 
 tion as I could desire about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half 
 a dozen other people in the neighborhood in whom I was not 
 in the least interested, but whose biographies I was compelled 
 to listen to." 

 " And what of Irene Adler ?" I asked. 

 " Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. 
 She is the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So 
 say the Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings 
 at concerts, drives out at five every day, and returns at seven 



 l6 ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES 

 sharp for dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except 
 when she sings. Has only one male visitor, but a good deal 
 of him. He is dark, handsome, and dashing , never calls less 
 than once a day, and often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Nor- 
 ton, of the Inner Temple. See the advantages of a cabman 
 as a confidant. They had driven him home a dozen times 
 from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. When I had 
 listened to all that they had to tell, I began to walk up and 
 down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my 
 plan of campaign. 

 " This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in 
 the matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What 
 was the relation between them, and what the object of his 
 repeated visits } Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress ? 
 If the former, she had probably transferred the photograph to 
 his keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of 
 this question depended whether I should continue my work 
 at Briony Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's 
 chambers in the Temple. It was a delicate point, and it 
 widened the field of my inquiry. I fear that I bore you with 
 these details, but I have to let you see my little difficulties, if 
 you are to understand the situation." 

 " I am following you closely," I answered. 

 " I was still balancing the matter in my mind, when a han- 
 som cab drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang 
 out. He was a remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and 
 mustached — evidently the man of whom I had heard. He 
 appeared to be in a great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, 
 and brushed past the maid who opened the door with the air 
 of a man who was thoroughly at home. 

 " He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch 
 glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing 
 up and down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of 
 her I could see nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even 
 more flurried than before. As he stepped up to the cab, he 
 pulled a gold watch from his pocket and looked at it earnestly. 



 A SCANDAL IN BOHEMIA 17 

 'Drive like the devil,' he shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's 
 in Regent Street, and then to the church of St. Monica in the 
 Edgware Road. Half a guinea if you do it in twenty min- 
 utes !' 

 " Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I 
 should not do well to follow them, when up the lane came a 
 neat little landau, the coachman with his coat only half-but- 
 toned, and his tie under his ear, while all the tags of his 
 harness were sticking out of the buckles. It hadn't pulled up 
 before she shot out of the hall door and into it. I only caught 
 a glimpse of her at the moment, but she was a lovely woman, 
 with a face that a man might die for. 

 " ' The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, * and half a 
 sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' 

 "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just 
 balancing whether I should run for it, or whether I should 
 perch behind her landau, when a cab came through the street. 
 The driver looked twice at such a shabby fare ; but I jumped 
 in before he could object. * The Church of St. Monica,' said 
 I, 'and half a sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' 
 It was twenty -five minutes to twelve, and of course it was 
 clear enough what was in the wind. 

 " My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, 
 but the others were there before us. The cab and the landau 
 with their steaming horses were in front of the door when I 
 arrived. I paid the man and hurried into the church. There 
 was not a soul there save the two whom I had followed and a 
 surpliced clergyman, who seemed to be expostulating with 
 them. They were all three standing in a knot in front of the 
 altar. I lounged up the side aisle like any other idler who has 
 dropped into a church. Suddenly, to my surprise, the three 
 at the altar faced round to me, and Godfrey Norton came 
 running as hard as he could towards me." 

 " Thank God !" he cried. " You'll do. Come ! Come !" 

 " What then ?" I asked. 

 " Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.'* 



 l8 ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES 

 I was half -dragged up to the altar, and, before I knew 
 where I was, I found myself mumbling responses which were 
 whispered in my ear, and vouching for things of which I knew 
 nothing, and generally assisting in the secure tying up of 
 Irene Adler, spinster, to Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was 
 all done in an instant, and there was the gentleman thanking 
 me on the one side and the lady on the other, while the 
 clergyman beamed on me in front. It was the most prepos- 
 terous position in which I ever found myself in my life, and it 
 was the thought of it that started me laughing just now. It 
 seems that there had been some informality about their license, 
 that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them without 
 a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance saved 
 the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in 
 search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I 
 mean to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occa- 
 sion." 

 " This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I ; " and 
 what then ?" 

 "Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked 
 as if the pair might take an immediate departure, and so 
 necessitate very prompt and energetic measures on my part. 
 At the church door, however, they separated, he driving back 
 to the Temple, and she to her own house. ' I shall drive out 
 in the park at five as usual,' she said, as she left him. I heard 
 no more. They drove away in different directions, and I 
 went off to make my own arrangements." 
 " Which are .?" 

 " Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ring- 
 ing the bell. " I have been too busy to think of food, and I am 
 likely to be busier still this evening. By the way, doctor, I 
 shall want your co-operation." 
 "I shall be delighted." 
 " You don't mind breaking the law ?" 
 " Not in the least." 
 " Nor running a chance of arrest ?" 



 A SCANDAL IN BOHEMIA I9 

 " Not in a good cause." 

 " Oh, the cause is excellent !" 

 " Then I am your man.'- 

 " I was sure that I might rely on you." 

 " But what is it you wish ?" 

 " When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it 
 clear to you. Now," he said, as he turned hungrily on the 
 simple fare that our landlady had provided, " I must discuss 
 it while I eat, for I have not much time. It is nearly five 
 now. In two hours we must be on the scene of action. 
 Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns from her drive at 
 seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." 

 " And what then .?" 

 "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged 
 what is to occur. There is only one point on which I must 
 insist. You must not interfere, come what may. You under- 
 stand?" 

 " I am to be neutral ?" 

 " To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some 
 small unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my 
 being conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes after- 
 wards the sitting-room window will open. You are to station 
 yourself close to that open window." 

 "Yes." 

 " You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." 

 "Yes." 

 " And when I raise my hand — so — you will throw into the 
 room what I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, 
 raise the cry of fire. You quite follow me ?" 

 " Entirely." 

 " It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long 
 cigar-shaped roll from his pocket. " It is an ordinary plumb- 
 er's smoke-rocket, fitted with a cap at either end to make it 
 self-lighting. Your task is confined to that. When you raise 
 your cry of fire, it will be taken up by quite a number of peo- 
 ple. You may then walk to the end of the street, and I will 



 20 ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES 

 rejoin you in ten minutes. I hope that I have made myself 
 dear ?" 

 " I am to remain neutral, to get <near the window, to watch 
 you, and, at the signal, to throw in this object, then to raise 
 the cry of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." 

 " Precisely." 

 " Then you may entirely rely on me." 

 " That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that 
 I prepare for the new role I have to play." 

 He disappeared into his bedroom, and returned in a few 
 minutes in the character of an amiable and simple-minded 
 Nonconformist clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy 
 trousers, his white tie, his sympathetic smile, and general 
 look of peering and benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. 
 John Hare alone could have equalled. It was not merely 
 that Holmes changed his costume. His expression, his man- 
 ner, his very soul seemed to vary with every fresh part that 
 he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as science lost 
 an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in crime. 

 It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it 
 still wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves 
 in Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps 
 were just being lighted as we paced up and down in front of 
 Briony Lodge, waiting for the coming of its occupant. The 
 house was just such as I had pictured it from Sherlock 
 Holmes' succinct description, but the locality appeared to be 
 less private that I expected. On the contrary, for a small 
 street in a quiet neighborhood, it was 'remarkably animated. 
 There was a group of shabbily-dressed men smoking and 
 laughing in a corner, a scissors -grinder with his wheel, two 
 guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse -girl, and several 
 well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with 
 cigars in their mouths. 

 " You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in 
 front of the house, " this marriage rather simplifies matters. 
 The photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The 



 A SCANDAL IN BOHEMIA 21 

 chances are that she would be as averse to its being seen by 
 Mr. Godfrey Norton, as our client is to its coming to the 
 eyes of his princess. Now the question is, Where are we to 
 find the photograph ?" 

 " Where, indeed ?'* 

 " It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It 
 is cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a 
 woman's dress. She knows that the King is capable of hav- 
 ing her waylaid and searched. Two attempts of the sort have 
 already been made. We may take it, then, that she does not 
 carry it about with her." 

 ' Where, then ?" 

 " Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double pos- 
 sibility. But I am inclined to think neither. Women are 
 naturally secretive, and they like to do their own secreting. 
 Why should she hand it over to any one else ? She could 
 trust her own guardianship, but she could not tell what indi- 
 rect or political influence might be brought to bear upon a 
 business maru Besides, remember that she had resolved to 
 use it within a few days. It must be where she can lay her 
 hands upon it. It must be in her own house." 

 " But it has twice been burgled." 

 " Pshaw ! They did not know how to look." 

 " But how will you look ?" 

 " I will not look." 

 " What then ?" 

 " I will get her to show me." 

 " But she will refuse." 

 " She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. 
 It is her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." 

 As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came 
 round the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau 
 which rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled 
 up, one of the loafing men at the comer dashed forward to 
 open the door in the hope of earning a copper, but was el- 
 bowed away by another loafer, who had rushed up with the 



 22 ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES 

 same intention. A fierce quarrel broke out, which was in- 
 creased by the two guardsmen, who took sides with one of the 
 loungers, and by the scissors - grinder, who was equally hot 
 upon the other side. A blow was struck, and in an instant 
 the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was the centre 
 of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who struck 
 savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes 
 dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he 
 reached her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with 
 the blood running freely down his face. At his fall the 
 guardsmen took to their heels in one direction and the loung- 
 ers in the other, while a number of better dressed people, 
 who had watched the scufile without taking part in it, crowded 
 in to help the lady and to attend to the injured man. Irene 
 Adler, as I will still call her, had hurried up the steps ; but 
 she stood at the top with her superb figure outlined against 
 the lights of the hall, looking back into the street. 

 " Is the poor gentleman much hurt ?" she asked. 

 " He is dead," cried several voices. 

 " No, no, there's life in him !" shouted another. " But he'll 
 be gone before you can get him to hospital." 

 " He's a brave fellow," said a woman. " They would have 
 had the lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. 
 They were a gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing 
 now." 

 " He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm ?" 

 "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a 
 comfortable sofa. This way, please !" 

 Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and 
 laid out in the principal room, while I still observed the pro- 
 ceedings from my post by the window. The lamps had been 
 lit, but the blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see 
 Holmes as he lay upon the couch. I do not know whether 
 he was seized with compunction at that moment for the part 
 he was playing, but I know that I never felt more heartily 
 ashamed of myself in my life than when I saw the beautiful 



 A SCANDAL IN BOHEMIA 23 

 creature against whom I was conspiring, or the grace and 
 kindliness with which she waited upon the injured man. And 
 yet it would be the blackest treachery to Holmes to draw 
 back now from the part which he had intrusted to me. I 
 hardened my heart, and took the smoke -rocket from under 
 my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We 
 are but preventing her from injuring another. 

 Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion 
 like a man who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and 
 threw open the window. At the same instant I saw him raise 
 his hand, and at the signal I tossed my rocket into the room 
 with a cry of " Fire !" The word was no sooner out of my 
 mouth than the whole crowd of spectators, well dressed and 
 ill — gentlemen, ostlers, and servant-maids — joined in a gen- 
 eral shriek of " Fire !" Thick clouds of smoke curled through 
 the room and out at the open window. I caught a glimpse 
 of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice of Holmes 
 from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. Slipping 
 through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner of 
 the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my friend's 
 arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. He 
 walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes, until we 
 had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards 
 the Edgware Road. 

 "You did it very nicely, doctor," he remarked. "Nothing 
 could have been better. It is all right." 

 " You have the photograph ?" 

 " I know where it is." 

 " And how did you find out ?" 

 " She showed me, as I told you that she would." 

 " I am still in the dark." 

 "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. 
 " The matter was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that 
 every one in the street was an accomplice. They were all en- 
 gaged for the evening." 

 " I guessed as much." 



 24 ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES 

 " Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red 
 paint in the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, 
 clapped my hand to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. 
 It is an old trick." 

 " That also I could fathom." 

 "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. 
 What else could she do ? And into her sitting-room, which 
 was the very room which I suspected. It lay between that 
 and her bedroom, and I was determined to see which. They 
 laid me on a couch, I motioned for air, they were compelled 
 to open the window, and you had your chance." 

 " How did that help you ?" 

 "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her 
 house is on fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing 
 which she values most. It is a perfectly overpowering im- 
 pulse, and I have more than once taken advantage of it. In 
 the case of the Darlington Substitution Scandal it was of use 
 to me, and also in the Arnsworth Castle business. A married 
 woman grabs at her baby ; an unmarried one reaches for her 
 jewel-box. Now it was clear to me that our lady of to-day 
 had nothing in the house more precious to her than what we 
 are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. The alarm of 
 fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were 
 enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. 
 The photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just 
 above the right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I 
 caught a glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried 
 out that it was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the 
 rocket, rushed from the room, and I have not seen her since. 
 I rose, and, making my excuses, escaped from the house. I 
 hesitated whether to attempt to secure the photograph at 
 once ; but the coachman had come in, and as he was watch- 
 ing me narrowly, it seemed safer to wait. A little over-pre- 
 cipitance may ruin all." 

 " And now ?" I asked. 

 " Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the 



 A SCANDAL IN BOHEMIA 2$ 

 King to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. 
 We will be shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, 
 but it is probable that when she comes she may find neither 
 us nor the photograph. It might be a satisfaction to His 
 Majesty to regain it with his own hands." 

 " And when will you call ?" 

 " At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we 
 shall have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this 
 marriage may mean a complete change in her life and habits. 
 I must wire to the King without delay." 

 We had reached Baker Street, and had stopped at the door. 
 He was searching his pockets for the key, when some one 
 passing said : 

 " Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." 

 There were several people on the pavement at the time, but 
 the greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster 
 who had hurried by. 

 " I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down 
 the dimly-lit street. " Now, I wonder who the deuce that 
 could have been." 



 Ill 

 I SLEPT at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged 
 upon our toast and coffee in the morning when the King of 
 Bohemia rushed into the room. 

 "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock 
 Holmes by either shoulder, and looking eagerly into his face. 

 " Not yet." 

 " But you have hopes ?" 

 " I have hopes." 

 " Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." 

 "We must have a cab." 

 " No, my brougham is waiting." 

 "Then that will simplify matters." We descended, and 
 started off once more for Briony Lodge. 



 26 ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES 

 " Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. 

 "Married! When?" 

 " Yesterday." 

 " But to whom ?" 

 " To an English lawyer named Norton." 

 " But she could not love him ?" 

 " I am in hopes that she does." 

 " And why in hopes ?" 

 " Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future an- 
 noyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love 
 your Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no 
 reason why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." 

 " It is true. And yet — Well ! I wish she had been of 
 my own station ! What a queen she would have made !" He 
 relapsed into a moody silence, which was not broken until we 
 drew up in Serpentine Avenue. 

 The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman 
 stood upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye 
 as we stepped from the brougham. 

 " Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe ?" said she. 

 " I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at 
 her with a questioning and rather startled gaze. 

 " Indeed ! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. 
 She left this morning with her husband by the 5.15 train from 
 Charing Cross for the Continent." 

 " What !" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with 
 chagrin and surprise. " Do you mean that she has left Eng- 
 land ?" 

 " Never to return." 

 " And the papers .?" asked the King, hoarsely. "All is lost." 
 "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed 
 into the drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The 
 furniture was scattered about in every direction, with disman- 
 tled shelves and open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly 
 ransacked them before her flight. Holmes rushed at the 
 bell-pull, tore back a small sliding shutter, and, plunging in his 



 A SCANDAL IN BOHEMIA 27 

 hand, pulled out a photograph and a letter. The photograph 
 was of Irene Adler herself in evening dress, the letter was 
 superscribed to " Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called 
 for." My friend tore it open, and we all three read it togeth- 
 er. It was dated at midnight of the preceding night, and ran 
 in this way : 

 "My Dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, — You really did it 
 very well. You took me in completely. Until after the alarm 
 of fire, I had not a suspicion. But then, when I found how I 
 had betrayed myself, I began to think. I had been warned 
 against you months ago. I had been told that, if the King 
 employed an agent, it would certainly be you. And your ad- 
 dress had been given me. Yet, with all this, you piade me re- 
 veal what you wanted to know. Even after I became suspi- 
 cious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind old 
 clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress 
 myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take 
 advantage of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the 
 coachman, to watch you, ran up-stairs, got into my walking- 
 clothes, as I call them, and came down just as you departed. 

 "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that 
 I was really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sher- 
 lock Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good- 
 night, and started for the Temple to see my husband. 

 " We both thought the best resource was flight, when pur- 
 sued by so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the 
 nest empty when you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, 
 your client may rest in peace. I love and am loved by a bet- 
 ter man than he. The King may do what he will without 
 hinderance from one whom he has cruelly wronged. I keep 
 it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a weapon which 
 will always secure me from any steps which he might take in 
 the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to 
 possess ; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, very truly 
 yours, Irene Norton, nee Adler." 



 28 ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES 

 " What a woman — oh, what a woman !" cried the King of 
 Bohemia, when we had all three read this epistle. " Did I 
 not tell you how quick and resolute she was ? Would she not 
 have made an admirable queen ? Is it not a pity that she 
 was not on my level ?" 

 " From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to 
 be on a very different level to your Majesty," said Holmes, 
 coldly. " I am sorry that I have not been able to bring your 
 Majesty's business to a more successful conclusion." 

 " On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King ; " noth- 
 ing could be more successful. I know that her word is invi- 
 olate. The photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." 

 " I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." 

 " I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what 
 way I can reward you. This ring — " He slipped an emerald 
 snake ring from his finger and held it out upon the palm of 
 his hand. 

 " Your Majesty has something which I should value even 
 more highly," said Holmes. 

 " You have but to name it." 

 " This photograph !" 

 The King stared at him in amazement. 

 " Irene's photograph !" he cried. " Certainly, if you wish it." 

 " I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done 
 in the matter. I have the honor to wish you a very good- 
 morning." He bowed, and, turning away without observing 
 the hand which the King had stretched out to him, he set off 
 in my company for his chambers. 

 And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the 
 kingdom of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock 
 Holmes were beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make 
 merry over the cleverness of women, but I have not heard 
 him do it of late. And when he speaks of Irene Adler, or 
 when he refers to her photograph, it is always under the hon- 
 orable title of the woman. 




 adventure irir 

 THE RED- HEADED LEAGUE 

 HAD called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, 
 one day in the autumn of last year, and found him 
 in deep conversation with a very stout, florid-faced, 
 elderly gentleman, with fiery red hair. With an 
 apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw, when 
 Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the 
 door behind me. 

 " You could not possibly have come at a better time, my 
 dear Watson," he said, cordially. 

 " I was afraid that you were engaged." 

 " So I am. Very much so." 

 " Then I can wait in the next room." 

 " Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my 
 partner and helper in many of my most successful cases, and 
 I have no doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in 
 yours also." 

 The stout gentleman half-rose from his chair and gave a 
 bob of greeting, with a quick, little, questioning glance from 
 his small, fat-encircled eyes. 

 " Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his arm-chair 
 and putting his finger-tips together, as was his custom when 
 in judicial moods. " I know, my dear Watson, that you share 
 my love of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and 
 humdrum routine of every-day life. You have shown your 
 relish for it by the enthusiasm which has prompted you to 
 chronicle, and, if you will excuse my saying so, somewhat to 
 embellish so many of my own little adventures." 



 30 ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES 

 " Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to 
 me," I observed. 

 " You will remember that I remarked the other day, just 
 before we went into the very simple problem presented by 
 Miss Mary Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraor- 
 dinary combinations we must go to life itself, which is always 
 far more daring than any effort of the imagination." 

 "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." 

 " You did, doctor, but none the less you must come round 
 to my view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact 
 on you, until your reason breaks down under them and ac- 
 knowledges me to be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has 
 been good enough to call upon me this morning, and to begin 
 a narrative which promises to be one of the most singular 
 which I have listened to for some time. You have heard me 
 remark that the strangest and most unique things are very 
 often connected not with the larger but with the smaller 
 crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for 
 doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As 
 far as I have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the 
 present case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of 
 events is certainly among the most singular that I have ever 
 listened to. Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great 
 kindness to recommence your narrative. I ask you, not 
 merely because my friend Dr. Watson has not heard the 
 opening part, but also because the peculiar nature of the story 
 makes me anxious to have every possible detail from your 
 lips. As a rule, when I have heard some slight indication of 
 the course of events, I am able to guide myself by the thou- 
 sands of other similar cases which occur to my memory. In 
 the present instance I am forced to admit that the facts are, 
 to the best of my belief, unique." 

 The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of 
 some little pride, and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper 
 from the inside pocket of his great-coat. As he glanced down 
 the advertisement column, with his head thrust forward, and 



 THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE 3I 

 the paper flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at 
 the man, and endeavored, after the fashion of my companion, 
 to read the indications which might be presented by his dress 
 or appearance. 

 I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our 
 visitor bore every mark of being an average commonplace 
 British tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather 
 taggy gray shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black 
 frock-coat, unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with 
 a heavy brassy Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal 
 dangling down as an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded 
 brown overcoat with a wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair 
 beside him. Altogether, look as I would, there was nothing 
 remarkable about the man save his blazing red head, and the 
 expression of extreme chagrin and discontent upon his feat- 
 ures. 

 Sherlock Holmes's quick eye took in my occupation, and he 
 shook his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning 
 glances. " Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time 
 done manual labor, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, 
 that he has been in China, and that he has done a consid- 
 erable amount of writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." 

 Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger 
 upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. 

 " How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, 
 Mr. Holmes ?" he asked. " How did you know, for example, 
 that I did manual labor. It's as true as gospel, for I began 
 as a ship's carpenter." 

 " Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size 
 larger than your left. You have worked with it, and the 
 muscles are more developed." 

 " Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry ?" 

 " I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read 
 that, especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, 
 you use an arc-and-compass breastpin." 

 " Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing ?" 



 32 ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES 

 " What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very 
 shiny for five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch 
 near the elbow where you rest it upon the desk." 

 " Well, but China ?" 

 " The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your 
 right wrist could only have been done in China. I have made 
 a small study of tattoo marks, and have even contributed to 
 the literature of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' 
 scales of a delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in 
 addition, I see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, 
 the matter becomes even more simple." 

 Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. " Well, I never !" said 
 he. " I thought at first that you had done something clever, 
 but I see that there was nothing in it, after all." 

 " I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, " that I make a 
 mistake in explaining. * Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you 
 know, and my poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer 
 shipwreck if I am so candid. Can you not find the advertise- 
 ment, Mr. Wilson ?" 

 " Yes, I have got it now," he answered, with his thick, red 
 finger planted half-way down the column. " Here it is. This 
 is what began it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." 

 I took the paper from him, and read as follows : 

 " To THE Red-headed League : On account of the be- 
 quest of the late Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pa., U.S.A., 
 there is now another vacancy open which entitles a member 
 of the League to a salary of £^ a week for purely nominal 
 services. All red-headed men who are sound in body and 
 mind, and above the age of twenty-one years, are eligible. Ap- 
 ply in person on Monday, at eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, 
 at the offices of the League, 7 Pope's Court, Fleet Street." 

 " What on earth does this mean ?" I ejaculated, after I had 
 twice read over the extraordinary announcement. 

 Holmes chuckled, and wriggled in his chair, as was his 
 habit when in high spirits. " It is a little off the beaten 



 THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE 33 

 track, isn't it ?" said he. " And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go 
 at scratch, and tell us all about yourself, your household, and 
 the effect which this advertisement had upon your fortunes. 
 You will first make a note, doctor, of the paper and the 
 date." 

 " It is The Morning Chronicle, of April 27, 1890. Just two 
 months ago." 

 " Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson ?" 

 " Well, it is just as I have been telling 3'ou, Mr. Sherlock 
 Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead ; " I have 
 a small pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the 
 city. It's not a very large affair, and of late years it has not 
 done more than just give me a living. I used to be able to 
 keep two assistants, but now I only keep one ; and I would 
 have a job to pay him, but that he is willing to come for half 
 wages, so as to learn the business." 

 "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock 
 Holmes. 

 "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, 
 either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter 
 assistant, Mr. Holmes ; and I know very well that he could 
 better himself, and earn twice what I am able to give him. 
 But, after all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his 
 head ?" 

 " Why, indeed ?" You seem most fortunate in having an 
 employe who comes under the full market price. It is not a 
 common experience among employers in this age. I don't 
 know that your assistant is not as remarkable as your adver- 
 tisement." 

 "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never 
 was such a fellow for photography. Snapping away with a 
 camera when he ought to be improving his mind, and then 
 diving down into the cellar like a rabbit into its hole to de- 
 velope his pictures. That is his main fault ; but, on the 
 whole, he's a good worker. There's no vice in him." 

 " He is still with you, I presume ?" 



 34 ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES 

 *' Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of 
 simple cooking, and keeps the place clean — that's all I have 
 in the house, for I am a widower, and never had any family. 
 We live very quietly, sir, the three of us ; and we keep a roof 
 over our heads, and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. 

 " The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. 
 Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight 
 weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says : 

 " * I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed 
 man.' 

 "'Why that.?' I asks. 

 " ' Why,' says he, ' here's another vacancy on the League of 
 the Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any 
 man who gets it, and I understand that there are more vacan- 
 cies than there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' 
 end what to do with the money. If my hair would only change 
 color, here's a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' 

 " 'Why, what is it, then ?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I 
 am a very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me 
 instead of my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end 
 without putting my foot over the door-mat. In that way I 
 didn't know much of what was going on outside, and I was 
 always glad of a bit of news. 

 " ' Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed 
 Me«n ?' he asked, with his eyes open. 

 " ' Never.' 

 " < Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for 
 one of the vacancies.' 

 " * And what are they worth ?' I asked. 

 " ' Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is 
 slight, and it need not interfere very much with one's other 
 occupations.' 

 " Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my 
 ears, for the business has not been over-good for some years, 
 and an extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. 

 •"Tell me all about it,' said I. 



 THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE 35 

 "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can 
 see for yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is 
 the address where you should apply for particulars. As far as 
 I can make out, the League was founded by an American 
 millionaire, Ezekiah Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his 
 ways. He was himself red-headed, and he had a great sym- 
 pathy for all red-headed men ; so, when he died, it was found 
 that he had left his enormous fortune in the hands of trustees, 
 with instructions to apply the interest to the providing of easy 
 berths to men whose hair is of that color. From all I hear it 
 is splendid pay, and very little to do.' 

 " * But,' said I, ' there would be millions of red-headed men 
 who would apply.' 

 " ' Not so many as you might think,' he answered. ' You 
 see it is really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. 
 This American had started from London when he was young, 
 and he wanted to do the old town a good turn. Then, again, 
 I have heard it is no use your applying if your hair is light 
 red, or dark red, or anything but real bright, blazing, fiery red. 
 Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. Wilson, you would just walk in ; 
 but perhaps it would hardly be worth your while to put your- 
 self out of the way for the sake of a few hundred pounds.' 

 " Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, 
 that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed 
 to me that, if there was to be any competition in the matter, I 
 stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. 
 Vincent Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I 
 thought he might prove useful, so I just ordered him to put 
 up the shutters for the day, and to come right away with me. 
 He was very willing to have a holiday, so we shut the business 
 up, and started off for the address that was given us in the 
 advertisement. 

 " I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. 
 From north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade 
 of red in his hair had tramped into the city to answer the 
 advertisement. Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, 



 36 ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES 

 and Pope's Court looked like a coster's orange barrow. I 
 should not have thought there were so many in the whole 
 country as were brought together by that single advertise- 
 ment. Every shade of color they were— straw, lemon, orange, 
 brick, Irish - setter, liver, clay ; but, as Spaulding said, there 
 were not many who had the real vivid flame -colored tint. 
 When I saw how many were waiting, I would have given it up 
 in despair ; but Spaulding would not hear of it. How he did 
 it I could not imagine, but he pushed and pulled and butted 
 until he got me through the crowd, and right up to the steps 
 which led to the office. There was a double stream upon the 
 stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back dejected ; 
 but we wedged in as well as we could, and soon found our- 
 selves in the office." 

 "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," re- 
 marked Holmes, as his client paused and refreshed his mem- 
 ory with a huge pinch of snuff. " Pray continue your very 
 interesting statement." 

 " There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden 
 chairs and a deal table, behind which sat a small man, with a 
 head that was even redder than mine. He said a few words 
 to each candidate as he came up, and then he always managed 
 to find some fault in them which would disqualify them. Get- 
 ting a vacancy did not seem to be such a very easy matter, 
 after all. However, when our turn came, the little man was 
 much more favorable to me than to any of the others, and he 
 closed the door as we entered, so that he might have a private 
 word with us. 

 " * This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, * and he is 
 willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' 

 " ' And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 
 * He has every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen 
 anything so fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head 
 on one side, and gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. 
 Then suddenly he plunged forward, wrung my hand, and con- 
 gratulated me warmly on my success. 



 THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE 37 

 " * It would be injustice to hestitate,' said he. ' You will, 
 however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precau- 
 tion.' With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and 
 tugged until I yelled with the pain. ' There is water in your 
 eyes,' said he, as he released me. * I perceive that all is as it 
 should be. But we have to be careful, for we have twice been 
 deceived by wigs and once by paint. I could tell you tales of 
 cobbler's wax w^hich would disgust you with human nature.' 
 He stepped over to the window, and shouted through it at the 
 top of his voice that the vacancy was filled. A groan of dis- 
 appointment came up from below, and the folk all trooped 
 away in different directions, until there was not a red head to 
 be seen except my own and that of the manager. 

 " * My name,' said he, ' is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am my- 
 self one of the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble 
 benefactor. Are you a married man, Mr. Wilson ? Have you 
 a family ?' 

 " I answered that I had not. 

 " His face fell immediately. 

 " ' Dear me !' he said, gravely, ' that is very serious indeed ! 
 I am sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, 
 for the propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for 
 their maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you 
 should be a bachelor.' 

 " My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought 
 that I was not to have the vacancy after all ; but, after 
 thinking it over for a few minutes, he said that it would be 
 all right. 

 " ' In the case of another,' said he, ' the objection might be 
 fatal, but we must stretch a point in favor of a man with such 
 a head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter 
 upon your new duties ?' 

 "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,* 
 said I. 

 "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson !' said Vincent 
 Spaulding. ' I shall be able to look after that for you.' 



 38 ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES 

 " ' What would be the hours ?' I asked. 

 " ' Ten to two.' 

 " Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an even- 
 ing, Mr. Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, 
 which is just before pay-day ; so it would suit me very well 
 to earn a little in the mornings. Besides, I knew that my 
 assistant was a good man, and that he would see to anything 
 that turned up. 

 " ' That would suit me very well,' said I. ' And the pay ?' 

 " 'Is £4SL week." 

 " ' And the work ?' 

 " ' Is purely nominal." 

 " 'What do you call purely nominal ?' 

 " ' Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the 
 building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole 
 position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. 
 You don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the 
 office during that time.' 

 " ' It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of 
 leaving,' said I. 

 "*No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross, 'neither 
 sickness nor business nor anything else. There you must 
 stay, or you lose your billet.' 

 " ' And the work ?' 

 " ' Is to copy out the " Encyclopaedia Britannica." There 
 is the first volume of it in that press. You must find your 
 own ink, pens, and blotting-paper, but we provide this table 
 and chair. Will you be ready to-morrow ?' 

 " ' Certainly,' I answered. 

 " 'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratu- 
 late you once more on the important position which you 
 have been fortunate enough to gain.' He bowed me out of 
 the room, and I went home with my assistant, hardly know- 
 ing what to say or do, I was so pleased at my own good 
 fortune. 

 " Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I 



 THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE 39 

 was in low spirits again ; for I had quite persuaded myself 
 that the whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, 
 though what its object might be I could not imagine. It 
 seemed altogether past belief that any one could make such 
 a will, or that they would pay such a sum for doing anything 
 so simple as copying out the ' Encyclopaedia Britannica.' 
 Vincent Spaulding did what he could to cheer me up, but by 
 bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the whole thing. 
 However, in the morning I determined to have a look at it 
 anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a quill- 
 pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for 
 Pope's Court. 

 "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right 
 as possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. 
 Duncan Ross was there to see that I got fairly to work. He 
 started me off upon the letter A, and then he left me ; but he 
 would drop in from time to time to see that all was right with 
 me. At two o'clock he bade me good-day, complimented me 
 upon the amount that I had written, and locked the door of 
 the office after me. 

 *' This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday 
 the manager came in and planked down four golden sov- 
 ereigns for my week's work. It was the same next week, and 
 the same the week after. Every morning I was there at ten, 
 and every afternoon I left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan 
 Ross took to coming in only once of a morning, and then, af- 
 ter a time, he did not come in at all. Still, of course, I never 
 dared to leave the room for an instant, for I was not sure 
 when he might come, and the billet was such a good one, 
 and suited me so well, that I would not risk the loss of it. 

 " Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written 
 about Abbots and Archery and Armor and Architecture and 
 Attica, and hoped with diligence that I might get on to the 
 B's before very long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I 
 had pretty nearly filled a shelf with my writings. And then 
 suddenly the whole business came to an end." 



 40 ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES 

 " To an end ?" 

 " Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my 
 work as usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and 
 locked, with a Httle square of card-board hammered on to the 
 middle of the panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read 
 for yourself." 

 He held up a piece of white card-board about the size of a 
 sheet of note-paper. It read in this fashion : 

 "The Red-Headed League 

 IS 

 Dissolved. 

 October 9, 1890." 

 Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement 
 and the rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the 
 affair so completely overtopped every other consideration 
 that we both burst out into a roar of laughter. 

 " I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried 
 our client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. " If 
 you can do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go else- 
 where." 

 " No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair 
 from which he had half risen. " I really wouldn't miss your 
 case for the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But 
 there is, if you will excuse my saying so, something just a 
 little funny about it. Pray what steps did you take when 
 you found the card upon the door ?" 

 " I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then 
 I called at the offices round, but none of them seemed to 
 know anything about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who 
 is an accountant living on the ground-floor, and I asked him 
 if he could tell me what had become of the Red-headed 
 League. He said that he had never heard of any such body. 
 Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan Ross was. He answered 
 that the name was new to him. 




 THE DOOR WAS SHUT AND LOCKED 



 THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE 4I 

 " ' Well,' said I, ' the gentleman at No. 4.' 

 " ' What, the red-headed man ?' 

 " ' Yes.' 

 " ' Oh,' said he, ' his name was William Morris. He was a 
 solicitor, and was using my room as a temporary convenience 
 until his new premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' 

 "'Where could I find him?' 

 " ' Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 
 17 King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' 

 " I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address 
 it was a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it 
 had ever heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan 
 Ross." 

 " And what did you do then ?" asked Holmes. 

 " I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the ad- 
 vice of my assistant. But he could not help me in any way. 
 He could only say that if I waited I should hear by post. 
 But that was not quite good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not 
 wish to lose such a place without a struggle, so, as I had 
 heard that you were good enough to give advice to poor folk 
 who were in need of it, I came right away to you." 

 "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is 
 an exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look 
 into it. From what you have told me I think that it is pos- 
 sible that graver issues hang from it than might at first sight 
 appear." ^,^ 

 "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabe/ Wilson. "Why, I have 
 lost four pound a week." 

 " As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, 
 " I do not see that you have any grievance against this ex- 
 traordinary league. On the contrary, you are, as I under- 
 stand, richer by some £^0, to say nothing of the minute knowl- 
 edge which you have gained on every subject which comes 
 under the letter A. You have lost nothing by them." 

 " No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who 
 they are, and what their object was in playing this prank — if 



 42 ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES 

 it was a prank — upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for 
 them, for it cost them two and thirty pounds." 

 " We shall endeavor to clear up these points for you. And, 
 first, one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of 
 yours who first called your attention to the advertisement — 
 how long had he been with you ?" 

 "About a month then." 

 " How did he come ?" 

 " In answer to an advertisement." 

 " Was he the only applicant ?" 

 " No, I had a dozen." 

 " Why did you pick him .?" 

 " Because he was handy, and would come cheap." 

 "At half-wages, in fact." 

 " Yes." 

 " What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding ?" 

 " Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his 
 face, though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of 
 acid upon his forehead." 

 Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. " I 
 thought as much," said he. " Have you ever observed that 
 his ears are pierced for earrings ?" 

 " Yes, sir. He told me that a gypsy had done it for him 
 when he was a lad." 

 " Hum !" said Holn^s, sinking back in deep thought. " He 
 is still with you ?" ^^ 

 " Oh yes, sir ; I have only just left him." 

 " And has your business been attended to in your absence ?" 

 " Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to 
 do of a morning." 

 " That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you 
 an opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. 
 To-day is Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may 
 come to a conclusion." 

 "Well, Watson," said Holmes, when our visitor had left us, 
 " what do you make of it all ?" 



 THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE 43 

 "I make nothing of it," I answered, frankly. "It is a 
 most mysterious business." 

 "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the 
 less mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, 
 featureless crimes which are really puzzling, just as a com- 
 monplace face is the most difficult to identify. But I must 
 be prompt over this matter." 

 " What are you going to do, then .?" I asked. 

 "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three -pipe 
 problem, and I beg that you won't speak to me for fifty min- 
 utes." He curled himself up in his chair, with his thin knees 
 drawn up to his hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes 
 closed and his black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of 
 some strange bird. I had come to the conclusion that he 
 had dropped asleep, and indeed was nodding myself, when he 
 suddenly sprang out of his chair with the gesture of a man 
 who has made up his mind, and put his pipe down upon the 
 mantel-piece. 

 " Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he 
 remarked. "What do you think, Watson ? Could your pa- 
 tients spare you for a few hours ?" 

 "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very 
 absorbing." 

 "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through 
 the city first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I 
 observe that there is a good deal of German music on the 
 programme, which is rather more to my taste than Italian or 
 French. It is introspective, and I want to introspect. Come 
 along !" 

 We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate ; 
 and a short walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene 
 of the singular story which we had listened to in the morn- 
 ing. It was a pokey, little, shabby-genteel place, where four 
 lines of dingy two-storied brick houses looked out into a 
 small railed-in enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a 
 few clumps of faded laurel-bushes made a hard fight against 



 44 ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES 

 a smoke-laden and uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls 
 and a brown board with " Jabez Wilson " in white letters, 
 upon a corner house, announced the place where our red- 
 headed client carried on his business. Sherlock Holmes 
 stopped in front of it with his head on one side, and looked 
 it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between puckered 
 lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down 
 again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Final- 
 ly he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vig- 
 orously upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, 
 he went up to the door and knocked. It was instantly 
 opened by a bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who 
 asked him to step in. 

 "Thank you,'' said Holmes,"! only wished to ask you 
 how you would go from, here to the Strand." 

 " Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant, promptly, 
 closing the door. 

 " Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes, as we walked away. 
 " He is, in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, 
 and for daring I am not sure that he has not a claim to be 
 third. I have known something of him before." 

 " Evidently," said I, " Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a 
 good deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am 
 sure that you inquired your way merely in order that you 
 might see him." 

 " Not him." 

 "What then?" 

 "The knees of his trousers." 

 " And what did you see ?" 

 "What I expected to see." 

 " Why did you beat the pavement .?" 

 " My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for 
 talk. We are spies in an enemy's country. We know some- 
 thing of Saxe-Coburg Square. Let us now explore the parts 
 which lie behind it." 

 The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round 



 THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE 45 

 the corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as 
 great a contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the 
 back. It was one of the main arteries which convey the 
 traffic of the city to the north and west. The roadway was 
 blocked with the immense stream of commerce flowing in a' 
 double tide inward and outward, while the foot-paths were 
 black with the hurrying swarm of pedestrians. It was diffi- 
 cult to realize as we looked at the line of fine shops and 
 stately business premises that they really abutted on the 
 other side upon the faded and stagnant square which we had 
 just quitted. 

 " Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner, and 
 glancing along the line, " I should like just to remember the 
 order of the houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an 
 exact knowledge of London. There is Mortimer's, the tobac- 
 conist, the little newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the 
 City and Suburban Bank, the Vegetarian Restaurant, and 
 McFarlane's carriage-building depot. That carries us right 
 on to the other block. And now, doctor, we've done our 
 work, so it's time we had some play. A sandwich and a cup 
 of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where all is sweetness 
 and delicacy and harmony, and there are no red-headed cli- 
 ents to vex us with their conundrums." 

 My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not 
 only a very capable performer, but a composer of no ordinary 
 merit. All the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the 
 most perfect happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers 
 in time to the music, while his gently smiling face and his lan- 
 guid, dreamy eyes were as unlike those of Holmes, the sleuth- 
 hound. Holmes the relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed crim- 
 inal agent, as it was possible to conceive. In his singular 
 character the dual nature alternately asserted itself, and his 
 extreme exactness and astuteness represented, as I have often 
 thought, the reaction against the poetic and contemplative 
 mood which occasionally predominated in him. The swing 
 of his nature took him from extreme languor to devouring 



 46 ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES 

 energy ; and, as I knew well, he was never so truly formida 
 ble as when, for days on end, he had been lounging in his 
 arm-chair amid his improvisations and his black-letter edi- 
 tions. Then it was that the lust of the chase would suddenly 
 come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning power would 
 rise to the level of intuition, until those who were unacquaint- 
 ed with his methods would look askance at him as on a man 
 whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I 
 saw him that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. 
 James's Hall I felt that an evil time might be coming upon 
 those whom he had set himself to hunt down. 

 " You want to go home," no doubt, doctor," he remarked, 
 as we emerged. 

 "Yes, it would be as well." 

 "And I have some business to do which will take some 
 hours. This business at Coburg Square is serious." 

 " Why serious ?" 

 **A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every 
 reason to believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to- 
 day being Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want 
 your help to-night." 

 "At what time?" 

 "Ten will be early enough." 

 " I shall be at Baker Street at ten." 

 " Very well. And, I say, doctor, there may be some little 
 danger, so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." 
 He waved his hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in 
 an instant among the crowd. 

 I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbors, but I 
 was always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my 
 dealings with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he 
 had heard, I had seen what he had seen, and yet from his 
 words it was evident that he saw clearly not only what had 
 happened, but what was about to happen, while to me the 
 whole business was still confused and grotesque. As I drove 
 home to my house in Kensington I thought over it all, from 




 ALL AFTERNOON HE SAT IN THE STALLS 



 THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE 47 

 the extraordinary story of the red-headed copier of the "En- 
 cyclopsedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg Square, and 
 the ominous words with which he had parted from me. What 
 was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed ? 
 Where were we going, and what were we to do ? I had the 
 hint from Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's as- 
 sistant was a formidable man — a man who might play a 
 deep game. I tried to puzzle it out, but gave it up in 
 despair, and set the matter aside until night should bring an 
 explanation. 

 It was a quarter past nine when I started from home and 
 made my way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street 
 to Baker Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, 
 and, as I entered the passage, I heard the sound of voices 
 from above. On entering his room I found Holmes in an- 
 imated conversation with two men, one of whom I recognized 
 as Peter Jones, the official police agent, while the other was 
 a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a yery shiny hat and oppres- 
 sively respectable frock-coat. 

 " Ha ! our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up 
 his pea-jacket, and taking his heavy hunting crop from the 
 rack. " Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland 
 Yard .-* Let me introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is 
 to be our companion in to-night's adventure." 

 "We're hunting in couples again, doctor, you see," said 
 Jones, in his consequential way. " Our friend here is a won- 
 derful man for starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog 
 to help him to do the running down." 

 " I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our 
 chase," observed Mr. Merryweather, gloomily. 

 " You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, 
 sir," said the police agent, loftily. " He has his own little 
 methods, which are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a lit- 
 tle too theoretical and fantastic, but he has the makings of a 
 detective in him. It is not too much to say that once or 
 twice, as in that business of the Sholto murder and the Agra 



 48 ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES 

 treasure, he has been more nearly correct than the official 
 force." 

 "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the 
 strajiger, with deference. " Still, I confess that I miss my 
 rubber. It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty 
 years that I have not had my rubber." 

 "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you 
 will play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done 
 yet, and that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. 
 Merryweather, the stake will be some ^30,000 ; and for you, 
 Jones, it will be the man upon whom you wish to lay your 
 hands." 

 "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's 
 a young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his 
 profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than 
 on any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young 
 John Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he him- 
 self has been to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning 
 as his fingers, and though we meet signs of him at every turn, 
 we never know where to find the man himself. He'll crack a 
 crib in Scotland one week, and be raising money to build an 
 orphanage in Cornwall the next. I've been on his track for 
 years, and have never set eyes on him yet." 

 " I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you 
 to-night. I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John 
 Clay, and I agree with you that he is at the head of his pro- 
 fession. It is past ten, however, and quite time that we start- 
 ed. If you two will take the first hansom, Watson and I will 
 follow in the second." 

 Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the 
 long drive, and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which 
 he had heard in the afternoon. We rattled through an end- 
 less labyrinth of gas-lit streets until we emerged into Farring- 
 don Street. 

 " We are close there now," my friend remarked. " This fel- 
 low Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested 



 THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE 49 

 in the matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us 
 also. He is not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in 
 his profession. He has one positive virtue. He is as brave 
 as a bull - dog, and as tenacious as a lobster if he gets his 
 claws upon any one. Here we are, and they are waiting for 
 us." 

 We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which 
 we had found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dis- 
 missed, and, following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we 
 passed down a narrow passage and through a side door, which 
 he opened for us. Within there was a small corridor, which 
 ended in a very massive iron gate. This also was opened, 
 and led down a flight of winding stone steps, which terminat- 
 ed at another formidable gate. Mr. Merryweather stopped 
 to light a lantern, and then conducted us down a dark, earth- 
 smelling passage, and so, after opening a third door, into a 
 huge vault or cellar, which was piled all round with crates and 
 massive boxes. 

 "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes re- 
 marked, as he held up the lantern and gazed about him. 

 " Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his 
 stick upon the flags which lined the floor. " Why, dear me, 
 it sounds quite hollow !" he remarked, looking up in surprise. 

 " I must really ask you to be a little more quiet," said 
 Holmes, severely. "You have already imperilled the whole 
 success of our expedition. Might I beg that you would have 
 the goodness to sit down upon one of those boxes, and not 
 to interfere ?" 

 The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a 
 crate, with a very injured expression upon his face, while 
 Holmes fell upon his knees upon the floor, and, with the lan- 
 tern and a magnifying lens, began to examine minutely the 
 cracks between the stones. A few seconds sufficed to satisfy 
 him, for he sprang to his feet again, and put his glass in his 
 pocket. 

 " We have at least an hour before us," he remarked ; " for 
 4 



 so ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES 

 they can hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is 
 safely in bed. Then they will not lose a minute, for the 
 sooner they do their work the longer time they will have for 
 their escape. We are at present, doctor — as no doubt you 
 have divined — in the cellar of the city branch of one of the 
 principal London banks. Mr. Merryweather is the chairman 
 of directors, and he will explain to you that there are reasons 
 why the more daring criminals of London should take a con- 
 siderable interest in this cellar at present." 

 "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We 
 have had several warnings that an attempt might be made 
 upon it." 

 " Your French gold ?" 

 "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen 
 our resources, and borrowed, for that purpose, 30,000 napo- 
 leons from the Bank of France. It has become known that 
 we have never had occasion to unpack the money, and that 
 it is still lying in our cellar. The crate upon which I sit 
 contains 2000 napoleons packed between layers of lead foil. 
 Our reserve of bullion is much larger at present than is usually 
 kept in a single branch office, and the directors have had mis- 
 givings upon the subject." 

 "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And 
 now it is time that we arranged our little plans. I expect 
 that within an hour matters will come to a head. In the 
 mean time, Mr. Merryweather, we must put the screen over 
 that dark lantern." 

 " And sit in the dark ?" 

 "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my 
 pocket, and I thought that, as we were a partie carree^ you 
 might have your rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's 
 preparations have gone so far that we cannot risk the pres- 
 ence of a light. And, first of all, we must choose our posi- 
 tions. These are daring men, and though we shall take them 
 at a disadvantage, they may do us some harm unless we are 
 careful. I shall stand behind this crate, and do you conceal 



 THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE 5I 

 yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a light upon 
 them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no com- 
 punction about shooting them down." 

 I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden 
 case behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across 
 the front of his lantern, and left us in pitch darkness— such 
 an absolute darkness as I have never before experienced. 
 The smell of hot metal remained to assure us that the light 
 was still there, ready to flash out at a moment's notice. To 
 me, with my nerves worked up to a pitch of expectancy, there 
 was something depressing and subduing in the sudden gloom, 
 and in the cold, dank air of the vault. 

 " They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. " That 
 is back through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope 
 that you have done what I asked you, Jones ?" 

 " I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front 
 door." 

 " Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must 
 be silent and wait." 

 What a time it seemed ! From comparing notes afterwards 
 it was but an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that 
 the night must have almost gone, and the dawn be breaking 
 above us. My limbs were weary and stiff, for I feared to 
 change my position ; yet my nerves were worked up to the 
 highest pitch of tension, and my hearing was so acute that I 
 could not only hear the gentle breathing of my companions, 
 but I could distinguish the deeper, heavier in-breath of the 
 bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note of the bank director. 
 From my position I could look over the case in the direction 
 of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint of a light. 

 At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. 
 Then it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and 
 then, without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open 
 and a hand appeared ; a white, almost womanly hand, which 
 felt about in the centre of the little area of light. For a min- 
 ute or more the hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out 



 52 ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES 

 of the floor. Then it was withdrawn as suddenly as it ap- 
 peared, and all was dark again save the single lurid spark 
 which marked a chink between the stones. 

 Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a 
 rending, tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned 
 over upon its side, and left a square, gaping hole, through 
 which streamed the light of a lantern. Over the edge there 
 peeped a clean-cut, boyish face, which looked keenly about it, 
 and then, with a hand on either side of the aperture, drew it- 
 self shoulder-high and waist-high, until one knee rested upon 
 the edge. In another instant he stood at the side of the 
 hole, and was hauling after him a companion, lithe and small 
 like himself, with a pale face and a shock of very red hair. 

 " It's all clear," he whispered. " Have you the chisel and 
 the bags. Great Scott ! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing 
 for it !" 

 Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder 
 by the collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard 
 the sound of rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. 
 The light flashed upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes's 
 hunting crop came down on the man's wrist, and the pistol 
 clinked upon the stone floor. 

 " It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes, blandly. " You have 
 no chance at all." 

 " So I see," the other answered, with the utmost coolness. 
 " I fancy that my pal is all right, though I see you have got 
 his coat-tails." 

 " There are three men waiting for him at the door," said 
 Holmes. 

 ''Oh, indeed ! You seem to have done the thing very 
 completely. I must compliment you." 

 '' And I you," Holmes answered. " Your red-headed idea 
 was very new and efltective." 

 " You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. " He's 
 quicker at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out 
 while I fix the derbies." 



 THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE 53 

 " I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," 
 remarked our prisoner, as the handcuffs clattered upon his 
 wrists. "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in 
 my veins. Have the goodness, also, when you address me al- 
 ways to say ' sir ' and * please.' " 

 " All right," said Jones, with a stare and a snigger. " Well, 
 would you please, sir, march up-stairs, where we can get a cab 
 to carry your highness to the police-station ?" 

 "That is better," said John Clay, serenely. He made a 
 sweeping bow to the three of us, and walked quietly off in the 
 custody of the detective. 

 " Really Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather, as we fol- 
 lowed them from the cellar, " I do not know how the bank can 
 thank you or repay you. There is no doubt that you have 
 detected and defeated in the most complete manner one of 
 the most determined attempts at bank robbery that have ever 
 come within my experience." 

 " I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle 
 with Mr. John Clay," said Holmes. " I have been at some 
 small expense over this matter, which I shall expect the bank 
 to refund, but beyond that I am amply repaid by having had 
 an experience which is in many ways unique, and by hearing 
 the very remarkable narrative of the Red-headed League." 

 " You see, Watson," he explained, in the early hours of the 
 morning, as we sat over a glass of whiskey-and-soda in Baker 
 Street, " it was perfectly obvious from the first that the only 
 possible object of this rather fantastic business of the advertise- 
 ment of the League, and the copying of the ' Encyclopaedia,' 
 must be to get this not over -bright pawnbroker out of the 
 way for a number of hours every day. It was a curious way 
 of managing it, but, really, it would be difficult to suggest a bet- 
 ter. The method was no doubt suggested to Clay's ingen- 
 ious mind by the color of his accomplice's hair. The £4. a 
 week was a lure which must draw him, and what was it to 
 them, who were playing for thousands .? They put in the ad- 



 54 ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES 

 vertisement, one rogue has the temporary office, the other 
 rogue incites the man to apply for it, and together they man- 
 age to secure his absence every morning in the week. From 
 the time that I heard of the assistant having come for half 
 wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive 
 for securing the situation." 

 " But how could you guess what the motive was ?" 
 " Had there been women in the house, I should have sus- 
 pected a mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the 
 question. The man's business was a small one, and there 
 was nothing in his house which could account for such elabo- 
 rate preparations, and such an expenditure as they were at. 
 It must, then, be something out of the house. What could it 
 be ? I thought of the assistant's fondness for photography, 
 and his trick of vanishing into the cellar. The cellar ! There 
 was the end of this tangled clue. Then I made inquiries as 
 to this mysterious assistant, and found that I had to deal with 
 one of the coolest and most daring criminals in London. He 
 was doing something in the cellar — something which took 
 many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once 
 more ? I could think of nothing save that he was running a 
 tunnel to some other building. 

 " So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of 
 action. I surprised you by beating upon the pavement with 
 my stick. I was ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out 
 in front or behind. It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, 
 and, as I hoped, the assistant answered it. We have had 
 some skirmishes, but we had never set eyes upon each other 
 before. I hardly looked at his face. His knees were what I 
 wished to see. You must yourself have remarked how worn, 
 wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of those hours 
 of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they were 
 burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw that the City 
 and Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt 
 that I had solved my problem. When you drove home after 
 the concert I called upon Scotland Yard, and upon the chair- 



 THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE 55 

 man of the bank directors, with the result that you have 
 seen." 

 " And how could you tell that they would make their at- 
 tempt to-night ?" I asked. 

 " Well, when they closed their League offices that was a 
 sign that they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's pres- 
 ence — in other words, that they had completed their tunnel. 
 But it was essential that they should use it soon, as it might 
 be discovered, or the bullion might be removed. Saturday 
 would suit them better than any other day, as it would give 
 them two days for their escape. For all these reasons I ex- 
 pected them to come to-night." 

 " You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed, in unfeigned 
 admiration. " It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings 
 true." 

 "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! 
 I already feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one 
 long effort to escape from the commonplaces of existence. 
 These little problems help me to do so." 

 " And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. 

 He shrugged his shoulders. " Well, perhaps, after all, it is 
 of some little use," he remarked. " ' L'homme c'est rien — 
 I'oeuvre c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to Georges 
 Sand." 




 BOventurc fllTf 

 A CASE OF IDENTITY 

 Y dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes, as we sat on 
 either side of the fire in his lodgings at Baker 
 Street, " life is infinitely stranger than anything 
 which the mind of man could invent. We would 
 not dare to conceive the things which are really mere com- 
 monplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window 
 hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the 
 roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the 
 strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross purposes, the 
 wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and 
 leading to the most outre results, it would make all fiction 
 with its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale 
 and unprofitable." 

 "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The 
 cases which come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald 
 enough, and vulgar enough. We have in our police reports 
 realism pushed to its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it 
 must be confessed, neither fascinating nor artistic." 

 "A certain selection and discretion must be used in pro- 
 ducing a realistic efi"ect," remarked Holmes. " This is want- 
 ing in the police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, 
 upon the platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, 
 which to an observer contain the vital essence of the whole 
 matter. Depend upon it there is nothing so unnatural as the 
 commonplace." 

 I smiled and shook my head. " I can quite understand you 
 thinking so," I said. " Of course, in your position of un- 



 A CASE OF IDENTITY 57 

 official adviser and helper to everybody who is absolutely 
 puzzled, throughout three continents, you are brought in con- 
 tact with all that is strange and bizarre. But here " — I picked 
 up the morning paper from the ground — " let us put it to a 
 practical test. Here is the first heading upon which I come. 
 'A husband's cruelty to his wife.' There is half a column 
 of print, but I know without reading it that it is all perfectly 
 familiar to me. There is, of course, the other woman, the 
 drink, the push, the blow, the bruise, the sympathetic sister 
 or landlady. The crudest of writers could invent nothing 
 more crude." 

 " Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argu- 
 ment," said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye 
 down it. "This is the Dundas separation case, and, as it 
 happen^, I was engaged in clearing up some small points in 
 connection with it. The husband was a teetotaler, there was no 
 other woman, and the conduct complained of was that he had 
 drifted into the habit of winding up every meal by taking out 
 his false teeth and hurling them at his wife, which, you will 
 allow, is not an action likely to occur to the imagination of the 
 average story-teller. Take a pinch of snuff, doctor, and ac- 
 knowledge that I have scored over you in your example." 

 He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst 
 in the centre of the lid. Its splendor was in such contrast to 
 his homely ways and simple life that I could not help com- 
 menting upon it. 

 " Ah," said he, " I forgot that I had not seen you for some 
 weeks. It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in 
 return for my assistance in the case of the Irene Adler 
 papers." 

 "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable briUiant 
 which sparkled upon his finger. 

 " It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the 
 matter in which I served them was of such delicacy that I 
 cannot confide it even to you, who have been good enough to 
 chronicle one or two of my little problems." 



 58 ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES 

 "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked, with in- 
 terest. 

 " Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature 
 of interest. They are important, you understand, without be- 
 ing interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in un- 
 important matters that there is a field for the observation, 
 and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the 
 charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be 
 the simpler, for the bigger the crime, the more obvious, as a 
 rule, is the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intri- 
 cate matter which has been referred to me from Marseilles, 
 there is nothing which presents any features of interest. It is 
 possible, however, that I may have something better before 
 very many minutes are over, for this is one of my clients, or I 
 am much mistaken." 

 He had risen from his chair, and was standing between the 
 parted blinds, gazing down into the dull, neutral-tinted Lon- 
 don street. Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pave- 
 ment opposite there stood a large woman with a heavy fur 
 boa round her neck, and a large curling red feather in a broad- 
 brimmed hat which was tilted in a coquettish Duchess -of- 
 Devonshire fashion over her ear. From under this great 
 panoply she peeped up in a nervous, hesitating fashion at our 
 windows, while her body oscillated backward and forward, 
 and her fingers fidgetted with her glove buttons. Suddenly, 
 with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves the bank, she 
 hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp clang of the 
 bell. 

 " I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throw- 
 ing his cigarette into the fire. " Oscillation upon the pavement 
 always means an affaire de cceur. She would like advice, but 
 is not sure that the matter is not too delicate for communica- 
 tion. And yet even here we may discriminate. When a 
 woman has been seriously wronged by a man she no longer 
 oscillates, and the usual symptom is a broken bell wire. Here 
 we may take it that there is a love matter, but that the maiden 



 A CASE OF IDENTITY 59 

 is not SO much angry as perplexed, or grieved. But here she 
 comes in person to resolve our doubts." 

 As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in 
 buttons entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the 
 lady herself loomed behind his small black figure like a full- 
 sailed merchant -man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock 
 Holmes welcomed her with the easy courtesy for which he was 
 remarkable, and having closed the door, and bowed her into 
 an arm-chair, he looked her over in the minute, and yet ab- 
 stracted fashion which was peculiar to him. 

 "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it 
 is a little trying to do so much type-writing ?" 

 "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the 
 letters are without looking." Then, suddenly realizing the 
 full purport of his words, she gave a violent start and looked 
 up, with fear and astonishment upon her broad, good-humored 
 face. "YouVe heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else 
 how could you know all that ?" 

 " Never mind," said Holmes, laughing ; " it is my business 
 to know things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what 
 others overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me ?" 

 " I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. 
 Etherege, whose husband you found so easy when the police 
 and every one had given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, 
 I wish you would do as much for me. I'm not rich, but still 
 I have a hundred a year in my own right, besides the little 
 that I make by the machine, and I would give it all to know 
 what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." 

 " Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry ?" 
 asked Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together, and his 
 eyes to the ceiling. 

 Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face 
 of Miss Mary Sutherland. " Yes, I did bang out of the house," 
 she said, " for it made me angry to see the easy way in which 
 Mr. Windibank — that is, my father— took it all. He would 
 not go to the police, and he would not go to you, and so at 



 6o ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES 

 last, as he would do nothing, and kept on saying that there 
 was no harm done, it made me mad, and I just on with my 
 things and came right away to you." 

 " Your father," said Holmes, " your step-father, surely, since 
 the name is different." 

 " Yes, my step-father. I call him father, though it sounds 
 funny, too, for he is only five years and two months older 
 than myself." 

 " And your mother is alive ?" 

 " Oh yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, 
 Mr. Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's 
 death, and a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than 
 herself. Father was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, 
 and he left a tidy business behind him, which mother carried 
 on with Mr. Hardy, the foreman ; but when Mr. Windibank 
 came he made her sell the business, for he was very superior, 
 being a traveller in wines. They got ;^47oo for the good- 
 will and interest, which wasn't near as mucji as father could 
 have got if he had been alive." 

 I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this 
 rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, 
 he had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. 

 " Your own little income," he asked, " does it come out of 
 the business ?" 

 "Oh no, sir. It is quite separate, and was left me by my 
 Uncle Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 
 4j per cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the 
 amount, but I can only touch the interest." 

 " You interest me extremely," said Holmes. " And since 
 you draw so large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you 
 earn into the bargain, you no doubt travel a little, and indulge 
 yourself in every way. I believe that a single lady can get on 
 very nicely upon an income of about ;^6o." 

 " I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you 
 understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be 
 a burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just 




 "SHERLOCK HOLMES WELCOMED HER ' 



 A CASE OF IDENTITY 6l 

 while I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for 
 the time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter, 
 and pays it over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty 
 well with what I earn at type-writing. It brings me twopence 
 a sheet, and I can often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a 
 day." 

 " You have made your position very clear to me," said 
 Holmes. " This is my friend. Dr. Watson, before whom you 
 can speak as freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all 
 about your connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." 

 A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked 
 nervously at the fringe of her jacket. " I met him first at the 
 gasfitters' ball," she said. " They used to send father tickets 
 when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, 
 and sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank 'did not wish us to 
 go. He never did wish us to go anywhere. He would get quite 
 mad if I wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. 
 But this time I was set on going, and I would go ; for what 
 right had he to prevent ? He said the folk were not fit for us 
 to know, when all father's friends were to be there. And he 
 said that I had nothing fit to wear, when I had my purple 
 plush that I had never so much as taken out of the drawer. 
 At last, when nothing else would do, he went off to France 
 upon the business of the firm, but we went, mother and I, with 
 Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it was there I 
 met Mr. Hosmer Angel." 

 " I suppose," said Holmes, " that when Mr. Windibank came 
 back from France he was very annoyed at your having gone 
 to the ball." 

 " Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I re- 
 member, and shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no 
 use denying anything to a woman, for she would have her 
 way." 

 " I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I under- 
 stand, a gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." 

 " Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to 



 62 ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES 

 ask if we had got home all safe, and after that we met him — 
 that is to say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but 
 after that father came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel 
 could not come to the house any more." 

 "No?" 

 " Well, you know, father didn't like anything of the sort. 
 He wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used 
 to say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. 
 But then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own 
 circle to begin with, and I had not got mine yet." 

 " But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel } Did he make no at- 
 tempt to see you ?" 

 " Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and 
 Hosmer wrote and said that it would be safer and better not 
 to see each other until he had gone. We could write in the 
 mean time, and he used to write every day. I took the let- 
 ters in in the morning, so there was no need for father to 
 know." 

 "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time.^" 

 "Oh yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first 
 walk that we took. Hosmer — Mr. Angel — was a cashier in 
 an office in Leadenhall Street — and—" 

 " What office ?" 

 "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." 

 " Where did he live, then ?" 

 " He slept on the premises." 

 " And you don't know his address ?" 
 ' " No — except that it was Leadenhall Street." 

 " Where did you address your letters, then ?" 

 " To the Leadenhall Street Post-office, to be left till called 
 for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be 
 chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a 
 lady, so I offered to type-write them, like he did his, but he 
 wouldn't have that, for he said that when I wrote them they 
 seemed to come from me, but when they were type-written he 
 always felt that the machine had come between us. That 



 A CASE OF IDENTITY 63 

 will just show you how fond he was of me, Mr. Holmes, and 
 the little things that he would think of." 

 " It was most suggestive," said Holmes. " It has long been 
 an axiom of mine that the little things are infinitely the most 
 important. Can you remember any other little things about 
 Mr. Hosmer Angel .?" 

 " He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather 
 walk with me in the evening than in the daylight, for he said 
 that he hated to be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentle- 
 manly he was. Even his voice was gentle. He'd had the 
 quinsy and swollen glands when he was young, he told me, 
 and it had left him with a weak throat, and a hesitating, 
 whispering fashion of speech. He was always well dressed, 
 very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just as mine are, 
 and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." 

 " Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your step- 
 father, returned to France ?" 

 " Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again, and proposed 
 that we should marry before father came back. He was in 
 dreadful earnest, and made me swear, with my hands on the 
 Testament, that whatever happened I would always be true 
 to him. Mother said he was quite right to make me swear, 
 and that it was a sign of his passion. Mother was all in his 
 favor from the first, and was even fonder of him than I was. 
 Then, when they talked of marrying within the week, I began 
 to ask about father ; but they both said never to mind about 
 father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother said she 
 would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like that, Mr. 
 Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as he 
 was only a few years older than me ; but I didn't want to do 
 anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where 
 the company has its French offices, but the letter came back 
 to me on the very morning of the wedding." 

 " It missed him, then ?" 

 " Yes, sir ; for he had started to England just before it ar- 
 rived." 



 64 ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES 

 " Ha ! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, 
 then, for the Friday. Was it to be in church .?" 

 '* Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, 
 near King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards 
 at the St. Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, 
 but as there were two of us, he put us both into it, and stepped 
 himself into a four-wheeler, which happened to be the only 
 other cab in the street. We got to the church first, and when 
 the four-wheeler drove up we waited for him to step out, but 
 he never did, and when the cabman got down from the box 
 and looked, there was no one there ! The cabman said that 
 he could not imagine what had become of him, for he had 
 seen him get in with his own eyes. That was last Friday, Mr. 
 Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything since then 
 to throw any light upon what became of him." 

 " It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treat- 
 ed," said Holmes. 

 " Oh no, sir ! He was too good and kind to leave me so. 
 Why, all the morning he was saying to me that, whatever 
 happened, I was to be true ; and that even if something quite 
 unforeseen occurred to separate us, I was always to remember 
 that I was pledged to him, and that he would claim his pledge 
 sooner or later. It seemed strange talk for a wedding-morn- 
 ing, but what has happened since gives a meaning to it." 

 " Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that 
 some unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him .?" 

 Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he 
 would not have talked so. And then I think that what he 
 foresaw happened." 

 " But you have no notion as to what it could have been .?" 

 " None." 

 "One more question. How did your mother take the 
 matter ?" 

 " She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the 
 matter again." 

 " And your father ? Did you tell him ?" 



 A CASE OF IDENTITY 65 

 "Yes ; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had 
 happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he 
 said, what interest could any one have in bringing me to the 
 doors of the»church, and then leaving me ? Now, if he had 
 borrowed my money, or if he had married me and got my mon- 
 ey settled on him, there might be some reason ; but Hosmer 
 was very independent about money, and never would look at 
 a shilling of mine. And yet, what could have happened ? And 
 why could he not write? Oh, it drives me half-mad to think 
 of ! and I can't sleep a wink at night." She pulled a little 
 handkerchief out of her muff, and began to sob heavily into it. 

 " I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising ; 
 " and I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite re- 
 sult. Let the weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do 
 not let your mind dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let 
 Mr. Hosmer Angel vanish from your memory, as he has done 
 from your life." 

 " Then you don't think I'll see him again ?" 

 " I fear not." 

 " Then what has happened to him ?" 

 " You will leave that question in my hands. I should like 
 an accurate description of him, and any letters of his which 
 you can spare." 

 " I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle^^^ said 
 she. " Here is the slip, and here are four letters from him." 

 "Thank you. And your address .'"' 

 "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." 

 " Mr. Angel's address you never had, T understand. Where 
 is your father's place of business ?" 

 " He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret im- 
 porters of Fenchurch Street." 

 "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. 
 You will leave the papers here, and remember the advice 
 which I have given you. Let the whole incident be a sealed 
 book, and do not allow it to affect your life." 

 " You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I 
 5 



 66 ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES 

 shall be true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he 
 comes back." 

 For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was 
 something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which com- 
 pelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon 
 the table, and went her way, with a promise to come again 
 whenever she might be summoned. 

 Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his finger- 
 tips still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of 
 him, and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he 
 took down from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was 
 to him as a counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in 
 his chair, with the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from 
 him, and a look of infinite languor in his face. 

 " Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. " I 
 found her more interesting than her little problem, which, by 
 the way, is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if 
 you consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was some- 
 thing of the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, 
 however, there were one or two details which were new to me. 
 But the maiden herself was most instructive." 

 "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was 
 quite invisible to me," I remarked. 

 " Not invisible, but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know 
 where to look, and so you missed all that was important. I 
 can never bring you to realize the importance of sleeves, the 
 suggestiveness of thumb-nails, or the great issues that may 
 hang from a boot-lace. Now, what did you gather from that 
 woman's appearance ? Describe it." 

 " Well, she had a slate-colored, broad-brimmed straw hat, 
 with a feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with 
 black beads sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet orna- 
 ments. Her dress was brown, rather darker than coffee color, 
 with a little purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her 
 gloves were grayish, and were worn through at the right fore- 
 finger. Her boots I didn't observe. She had small, round, 



 A CASE OF IDENTITY 6/ 

 hanging gold ear-rings, and a general air of being fairly well- 
 to-do, in a vulgar, comfortable, easy-going way." 

 Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and 
 chuckled. 

 " Ton my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. 
 You have really done very well indeed. It is true that you 
 have missed everything of importance, but you have hit upon 
 the method, and you have a quick eye for color. Never trust 
 to general impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon 
 details. My first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a 
 man it is perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. 
 As you observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, 
 which is a most useful material for showing traces. The 
 double line a little above the wrist, where the type-writist 
 presses against the table, was beautifully defined. The sew- 
 ing-machine, of the hand type, leaves a similar mark, but only 
 on the left arm, and on the side of it farthest from the thumb, 
 instead of being right across the broadest part, as this was. 
 I then glanced at her face, and observing the dint of a pince- 
 nez at either side of her nose, I ventured a remark upon short 
 sight and type-writiiig, which seemed to surprise her." 

 " It surprised me." 

 " But, surely, it was very obvious. I was then much sur- 
 prised and interested on glancing down to observe that, 
 though the boots which she was wearing were not unlike each 
 other, they were really odd ones ; the one having a slightly 
 decorated toe-cap, and the other a plain one. One was but- 
 toned only in the two lower buttons out of five, and the other 
 at the first, third, and fifth. Now, when you see that a young 
 lady, otherwise neatly dressed, has come away from home 
 with odd boots, half-buttoned, it is no great deduction to say 
 that she came away in a hurry." 

 " And what else ?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always 
 was, by my friend's incisive reasoning. 

 " I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before 
 leaving home, but after being fully dressed. You observed 



 68 ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES 

 that her right glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not 
 apparently see that both glove and finger were stained with 
 violet ink. She had written in a hurry, and dipped her pen 
 too deep. It must have been this morning, or the mark would 
 not remain clear upon the finger. All this is amusing, though 
 rather elementary, but I must go back to business, Watson. 
 Would you mind reading me the advertised description of Mr. 
 Hosmer Angel ?" 

 I held the little printed slip to the light. " Missing," it 
 said, "on the morning of the 14th, a gentleman named Hos- 
 mer Angel. About 5 ft. 7 in. in height ; strongly built, sallow 
 complexion, black hair, a little bald in the centre, bushy, 
 black side-whiskers and mustache ; tinted glasses, slight in- 
 firmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen, in black 
 frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert chain, 
 and gray Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over elastic- 
 sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in 
 Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing," etc., etc. 

 " That will do," said Holmes. " As to the letters," he con- 
 tinued, glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. 
 Absolutely no clew in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes 
 Balzac once. There is one remarkable point, however, which 
 will no doubt strike you." 

 " They are type- written," I remarked. 

 " Not only that, but the signature is type-written. Look at 
 the neat little ' Hosmer Angel ' at the bottom. There is a 
 date, you see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, 
 which is rather vague. The point about the signature is very 
 suggestive — in fact, we may call it conclusive." 

 " Of what ?" 

 " My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly 
 it bears upon the case ?" 

 " I cannot say that I do, unless it were that he wished to 
 be able to deny his signature if an action for breach of 
 promise were instituted." 

 " No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two 



 A CASE OF IDENTITY 69 

 letters, which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in 
 the city, the other is to the young lady's step-father, Mr. 
 Windibank, asking him whether he could meet us here at six 
 o'clock to-morrow evening. It is just as w^ell that we should 
 do business with the male relatives. And now, doctor, we 
 can do nothing until the answers to those letters come, so we 
 may put our little problem upon the shelf for the interim." 

 I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle 
 powers of reasoning, and extraordinary energy in action, that 
 I felt that he must have some solid grounds for the assured 
 and easy demeanor with which he treated the singular mystery 
 which he had been called upon to fathom. Once only had 
 I known him to fail, in the case of the King of Bohemia and 
 of the Irene Adler photograph ; but when I looked back to the 
 weird business of the Sign of Four, and the extraordinary cir- 
 cumstances connected with the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it 
 would be a strange tangle indeed which he could not unravel. 

 I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the 
 conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would 
 find that he held in his hands all the clews which would lead 
 up to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss 
 Mary Sutherland. 

 A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own 
 attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy 
 at the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon 
 six o'clock that I found myself free, and was able to spring 
 into a hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I 
 might be too late to assist at the denouement of the little mys- 
 tery. I found Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, 
 with his long, thin form curled up in the recesses of his arm- 
 chair. A formidable array of bottles and test-tubes, with the 
 pungent cleanly smell of hydrochloric acid, told me that he 
 had spent his day in the chemical work which was so dear to 
 him. 

 " Well, have you solved it ?" I asked, as I entered. 

 " Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." 



 70 ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES 

 " No, no, the mystery !" I cried. 

 " Oh, that ! I thought of the salt that, I have been working 

 upon. There was never any mystery in the matter, though, 

 as I said yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The 

 only drawback is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch 

 the scoundrel." 

 "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting 

 Miss Sutherland ?" 
 The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes 

 had not yet opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy 

 footfall in the passage, and a tap at the door. 

 . "This is the girl's step-father, Mr. James Windibank," said 

 Holmes. " He has written to me to say that he would be 

 here at six. Come in !" 

 The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, 
 some thirty years of age, clean shaven, and sallow skinned, 
 with a bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully 
 sharp and penetrating gray eyes. He shot a questioning 
 glance at each of us, placed his shiny top hat upon the side- 
 board, and with a slight bow sidled down into the nearest 
 chair. 

 "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I 
 think that this type-written letter is from you, in which you 
 made an appointment with me for six o'clock ?" 

 " Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not 
 quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss 
 Sutherland has troubled you about this little matter, for I 
 think it is far better not to wash linen of the sort in public. 
 It was quite against my wishes that she came, but she is a 
 very excitable, impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and 
 she is not easily controlled when she has made up her mind 
 on a point. Of course, I did not mind you so much, as you 
 are not connected with the official police, but it is not pleas- 
 ant to have a family misfortune like this noised abroad. Be- 
 sides, it is a useless expense, for how could you possibly find 
 this Hosmer Angel ?" 



 A CASE OF IDENTITY 7I 

 " On the contrary," said Holmes, quietly ; " I have every 
 reason to believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hos- 
 mer Angel." 

 Mr. Windibank gave a violent start, and dropped his gloves. 
 "I am delighted to hear it," he said. 

 " It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, " that a type- 
 writer has really quite as much individuality as a man's 
 handwriting. Unless they are quite new, no two of them 
 write exactly alike. Some letters get more worn than others, 
 and some wear only on one side. Now, you remark in this 
 note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that in every case there is some 
 little slurring over of the ' e,' and a slight defect in the tail of 
 the * r.' There are fourteen other characteristics, but those 
 are the more obvious." 

 "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the 
 office, and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, 
 glancing keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. 

 " And now I will show you what is really a very interesting 
 study, Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. " I think of wTit- 
 ing another little monograph some of these days on the type- 
 writer and its relation to crime. It is a subject to which I 
 have devoted some little attention. I have here four letters 
 which purport to come from the missing man. They are all 
 type-written. In each case, not only are the ' e's ' slurred and 
 the ' r's ' tailless, but you will observe, if you care to use my 
 magnifying lens, that the fourteen other characteristics to 
 which I have alluded are there as well." 

 Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair, and picked up his 
 hat. " I cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, 
 Mr. Holmes," he said. " If you can catch the man, catch 
 him, and let me know when you have done it." 

 " Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the 
 key in the door. " I let you know, then, that I have caught 
 him !" 

 " What ! where .?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning w^hite to 
 his lips, and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. 



 72 ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES 

 " Oh, it won't do — really it won't," said Holmes, suavely. 
 " There is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is 
 quite too transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when 
 you said that it was impossible for me to solve so simple a 
 question. That's right ! Sit down, and let us talk it over." 

 Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face, and 
 a glitter of moisture on his brow. " It — it's not actionable," 
 he stammered. 

 " I am very much afraid that it is not. But between our- 
 selves, Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a 
 trick in a petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me 
 just run over the course of events, and you will contradict me 
 if I go wrong." 

 The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk 
 upon his breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes 
 stuck his feet up on the corner of the mantel-piece, and, lean- 
 ing back with his hands in his pockets, began talking, rather 
 to himself, as it seemed, than to us. 

 *' The man married a woman very much older than himself 
 for her money," said he, " and he enjoyed the use of the 
 money of the daughter as long as she lived with them. It 
 was a considerable sum, for people in their position, and the 
 loss of it would have made a serious difference. It was worth 
 an effort to preserve it. The daughter was of a good, amiable 
 disposition, but affectionate and warm-hearted in her ways, so 
 that it was evident that with her fair personal advantages, 
 and her little income, she would not be allowed to remain 
 single long. Now her marriage would mean, of course, the 
 loss of a hundred a year, so what does her step-father do to 
 prevent it .? He takes the obvious course of keeping her at 
 home, and forbidding her to seek the company of people of 
 her own age. But soon he found that that would not answer 
 forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and 
 finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain 
 ball. What does her clever step-father do then ? He con- 
 ceives an idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. 




 GLANCING ABOUT HIM LIKE A RAT IN A TRAP" 



 A CASE OF IDENTITY 73 

 With the connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised 
 himself, covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked 
 the face with a mustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk 
 that clear voice into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure 
 on account of the girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer 
 Angel, and keeps off other lovers by making love himself.'* 

 " It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. " We 
 never thought that she would have been so carried away." 

 "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady 
 was very decidedly carried away, and having quite made up 
 her mind that her step-father was in France, the suspicion of 
 treachery never for an instant entered her mind. She was 
 flattered by the gentleman's attentions, and the effect was in- 
 creased by the loudly expressed admiration of her mother. 
 Then Mr. Angel began to call, for it was obvious that the 
 matter should be pushed as far as it would go, if a real effect 
 were to be produced. There were meetings, and an engage- 
 ment, which would finally secure the girl's affections from 
 turning towards any one else. But the deception could not 
 be kept up forever. These pretended journeys to France 
 were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to bring 
 the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it 
 would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's 
 mind, and prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for 
 some time to come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted 
 upon a Testament, and hence also the allusions to a possi- 
 bility of something happening on the very morning of the 
 wedding. James Windibank wished Miss Sutherland to be 
 so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to his fate, 
 that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not listen 
 to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, 
 and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished 
 away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a four- 
 wheeler, and out at the other. I think that that was the chain 
 of events, Mr. Windibank 1" 

 Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while 



 74 ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES 

 Holmes had been talking, and he rose from his chair now 
 with a cold sneer upon his pale face. 

 " It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, " but if 
 you are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know 
 that it is you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I 
 have done nothing actionable from the first, but as long as 
 you keep that door locked you lay yourself open to an action 
 for assault and illegal constraint." 

 "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, un- 
 locking and throwing open the door, " yet there never was a 
 man who deserved punishment more. If the young lady has 
 a brother or a friend, he ought to lay a whip across your 
 shoulders. By Jove !" he continued, flushing up at the sight 
 of the bitter sneer upon the man's face, " it is not part of my 
 duties to my client, but here's a hunting crop handy, and I 
 think I shall just treat myself to — " He took two swift steps 
 to the whip, but before he could grasp it there was a wild 
 clatter of steps upon the stairs, the heavy hall door banged, 
 and from the window we could see Mr. James Windibank 
 running at the top of his speed down the road. 

 "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel !" said Holmes, laughing, 
 as he threw himself down into his chair once more. "That 
 fellow will rise from crime to crime until he does something 
 very bad, and ends on a gallows. The case has, in some re- 
 spects, been not entirely devoid of interest." 

 " I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," 
 I remarked. 

 " Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. 
 Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious 
 conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really 
 profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the step- 
 father. Then the fact that the two men were never together, 
 but that the one always appeared when the other was away, 
 was suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curi- 
 ous voice, which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy 
 whiskers. My suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar 



 A CASE OF IDENTITY 75 

 action in type-writing his signature, which, of course, inferred 
 that his handwriting was so familiar to her that she would 
 recognize even the smallest sample of it. You see all these 
 isolated facts, together with many minor ones, all pointed in 
 the same direction." 

 " And how did you verify them ?" 

 " Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corrobo- 
 ration. I knew the firm for which this man worked. Having 
 taken the printed description, I eliminated everything from it 
 which could be the result of a disguise — the whiskers, the 
 glasses, the voice, and I sent it to the firm, with a request that 
 they would inform me whether it answered to the description 
 of any of their travellers. I had already noticed the peculiar- 
 ities of the type-writer, and I wrote to the man himself at his 
 business address, asking him if he would come here. As I 
 expected, his reply was type-written, and revealed the same 
 trivial but characteristic defects. The same post brought me 
 a letter from Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to 
 say that the description tallied in every respect with that of 
 their employe, James Windibank. Voiia tout/" 

 " And Miss Sutherland ?" 

 " If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember 
 the old Persian saying, ' There is danger for him who taketh 
 the tiger cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion 
 from a woman.' There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Hor- 
 ace, and as much knowledge of the world." 




 BDventure W 

 THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY 

 E were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife 
 and I, when the maid brought in a telegram. It 
 was from Sherlock Holmes, and ran in this way : 
 " Have you a couple of days to spare ? Have 
 just been wired for from the West of England in connection 
 with Boscombe Valley tragedy. Shall be glad if you will 
 come with me. Air and scenery perfect. Leave Paddington 
 by the 11.15." 

 " What do you say, dear ?" said my wife, looking across at 
 me. " Will you go ?" 

 " I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list 
 at present." 

 " Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have 
 been looking a little pale lately. I think that the change 
 would do you good, and you are always so interested in Mr. 
 Sherlock Holmes's cases." 

 " I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained 
 through one of them," I answered. " But if I am to go, I 
 must pack at once, for I have only half an hour." 

 My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had 
 the effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My 
 wants were few and simple, so that in less than the time 
 stated I was in a cab with my valise, rattling away to Pad- 
 dington Station. Sherlock Holmes was pacing up and down 
 the platform, his tall, gaunt figure made even gaunter and 
 taller by his long gray travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth 
 cap. 



 THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY 'J'J 

 " It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. 
 " It makes a considerable difference to me, having some one 
 with me on whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always 
 either worthless or else biassed. If you will keep the two 
 corner seats I shall get the tickets." 

 We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense lit- 
 ter of papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among 
 these he rummaged and read, with intervals of note -taking 
 and of meditation, until we were past Reading. Then he 
 suddenly rolled them all into a gigantic ball, and tossed them 
 up onto the rack. 

 " Have you heard anything of the case ?" he asked. 

 " Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." 

 "The London press has not had very full accounts. I 
 have just been looking through all the recent papers in or- 
 der to master the particulars. It seems, from what I gather, 
 to be one of those simple cases which are so extremely diffi- 
 cult." 

 "That sounds a little paradoxical." 

 " But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably 
 a clew. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, 
 the more difficult is it to bring it home. In this case, how- 
 ever, they have established a very serious case against the son 
 of the murdered man." 

 " It is a murder, then ?" 

 " Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for 
 granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally 
 into it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I 
 have been able to understand it, in a very few words. 

 " Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from 
 Ross, in Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in 
 that part is a Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Aus- 
 tralia, and returned some years ago to the old country. One 
 of the farms which he held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. 
 Charles McCarthy, who was also an ex- Australian. The men 
 had known each other in the colonies, so that it was not unnat- 



 y8 ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES 

 ural that when they came to settle down they should do so 
 as near each other as possible. Turner was apparently the 
 richer man, so McCarthy became his tenant, but still re- 
 mained, it seems, upon terms of perfect equality, as they were 
 frequently together. McCarthy had one son, a lad of eigh- 
 teen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same age, but 
 neither of them had wives living. They appear to have avoid- 
 ed the society of the neighboring English families, and to have 
 led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of 
 sport, and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the 
 neighborhood. McCarthy kept two servants — a man and a 
 girl. Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen 
 at the least. That is as much as I have been able to gather 
 about the families. Now for the facts. 

 " On June 3, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his 
 house at Hatherley about three in the afternoon, and walked 
 down to the Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by 
 the spreading out of the stream which runs down the Bos- 
 combe Valley. He had been out with his serving-man in the 
 morning at Ross, and he had told the man that he must hurry, 
 as he had an appointment of importance to keep at three. 
 From that appointment he never came back alive. 

 "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a 
 quarter of a mile, and two people saw him as he passed over 
 this ground. One was an old woman, whose name is not 
 mentioned, and the other was William Crowder, a game-keep- 
 er in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both these witnesses depose 
 that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The game-keeper adds 
 that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. McCarthy pass he 
 had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the same way 
 with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the fa- 
 ther was actually in sight at the time, and the son was follow- 
 ing him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard 
 in the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. 

 "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when Will- 
 iam Crowder, the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Bos- 



 THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY 79 

 combe Pool is thickly-wooded round, with just a fringe of 
 grass and of reeds round the edge. A girl of fourteen, Pa- 
 tience Moran, who is the daughter of the lodge - keeper of 
 the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the woods pick- 
 ing flowers. She states that while she was there she saw, at 
 the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. McCarthy 
 and his son, and that they appeared to be having a violent 
 quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very strong 
 language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his hand 
 as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their vio- 
 lence that she ran away, and told her mother when she reached 
 home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near 
 Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going 
 to fight. She had hardly said the words when young Mr. 
 McCarthy came running up to the lodge to say that he had 
 found his father dead in the wood, and to ask for the help of 
 the lodge-keeper. He was much excited, without either his 
 gun or his hat, and his right hand and sleeve were observed 
 to be stained with fresh blood. On following him they found 
 the dead body stretched out upon the grass beside the Pool. 
 The head had been beaten in by repeated blows of some heavy 
 and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as might very 
 well have been inflicted by the butt -end of his son's gun, 
 which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the 
 body. Under these circumstances the young man was in- 
 stantly arrested, and a verdict of ' Wilful Murder' having been 
 returned at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday 
 brought before the magistrates at Ross, who have referred the 
 case to the next assizes. Those are the main facts of the case 
 as they came out before the coroner and at the police-court." 

 "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I re- 
 marked. " If ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a crim- 
 inal it does so here." 

 " Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered 
 Holmes, thoughtfully. " It may seem to point very straight 
 to one thing, but if you shift your own point of view a little, 



 8o ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES 

 you may find it pointing in an equally uncompromising man- 
 ner to something entirely different. It must be confessed, 
 however, that the case looks exceedingly grave against the 
 young man, and it is very possible that he is indeed the cul- 
 prit. There are several people in the neighborhood, however, 
 and among them Miss Turner, the daughter of the neighbor- 
 ing land-owner, who believe in his innocence, and who have 
 retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect in connection 
 with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in his interest. 
 Lestrade, being rather puzzled, has referred the case to me, 
 and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are flying 
 westward at fifty miles an hour, instead of quietly digesting 
 their breakfasts at home." 

 " I am afraid," said I, " that the facts are so obvious that 
 you will find little credit to be gained out of this case." 

 " There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he 
 answered, laughing. " Besides, we may chance to hit upon 
 some other obvious facts which may have been by no means 
 obvious to Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that 
 I am boasting when I say that I shall either confirm or de- 
 stroy his theory by means which he is quite incapable of em- 
 ploying, or even of understanding. To take the first example 
 to hand, I very clearly perceive that in your bedroom the win- 
 dow is upon the right-hand side, and yet I question whether 
 Mr. Lestrade would have noted even so self-evident a thing 
 as that." 

 " How on earth — " 

 " My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military 
 neatness which characterizes you. You shave every morning, 
 and in this season you shave by the sunlight ; but since your 
 shaving is less and less complete as we get farther back on 
 the left side, until it becomes positively slovenly as we get 
 round the angle of the jaw, it is surely very clear that that side 
 is less well illuminated than the other. I could not imagine 
 a man of your habits looking at himself in an equal light, and 
 being satisfied with such a result. I only quote this as a triv- 




 "THEY FOUxND THE BODY 



 THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY 8l 

 ial example of observation and inference. Therein lies my 
 metier^ and it is just possible that it may be of some service in 
 the investigation which lies before us. There are one or two 
 minor points which were brought out in the inquest, and which 
 are worth considering." 

 " What are they ?" 

 " It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but 
 after the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of con- 
 stabulary informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked 
 that he was not surprised to hear it, and that it was no more 
 than his deserts. This observation of his had the natural ef- 
 effect of removing any traces of doubt which might have re- 
 mained in the minds of the coroner's jury." 

 " It was a confession," I ejaculated. 

 " No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." 

 " Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it 
 was at least a most suspicious remark." 

 " On the contrary," said Holmes," " it is the brightest rift 
 which I can at present see in the clouds. However innocent 
 he might be, he could not be such an absolute imbecile as 
 not to see that the circumstances were very black against him. 
 Had he appeared surprised at his own arrest, or feigned in- 
 dignation at it, I should have looked upon it as highly suspi- 
 cious, because such surprise or anger would not be natural 
 under the circumstances, and yet might appear to be the best 
 policy to a scheming man. His frank acceptance of the situ- 
 ation marks him as either an innocent man, or else as a man 
 of considerable self-restraint and firmness. As to his remark 
 about his deserts, it was also not unnatural if you consider 
 that he stood beside the dead body of his father, and that 
 there is no doubt that he had that very day so far forgotten 
 his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and even, accord- 
 ing to the little girl whose evidence is so important, to raise 
 his hand as if to strike him. The self-reproach and contri- 
 tion which are displayed in his remark appear to me to be the 
 signs of a healthy mind, rather than of a guilty one." 

 6 



 82 ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES 

 I shook my head. " Many men have been hanged on far 
 slighter evidence," I remarked. 

 " So they have. And many men have been wrongfully 
 hanged." 

 " What is the young man's own account of the matter ?" 

 " It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, 
 though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. 
 You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." 

 He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Here- 
 fordshire paper, and having turned down the sheet, he point- 
 ed out the paragraph in which the unfortunate young man 
 had given his own statement of what had occurred. I set- 
 tled myself down in the corner of the carriage, and read it 
 very carefully. It ran in this way : 

 " Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was 
 then called, and gave evidence as follows: *I had been 
 away from home for three days at Bristol, and had only just 
 returned upon the morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My fa- 
 ther was absent from home at the time of my arrival, and I 
 was informed by the maid that he had driven over to Ross 
 with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after my return I heard 
 the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, looking out of my win- 
 dow, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out of the yard, 
 though I was not aware in which direction he was going. I 
 then took my gun, and strolled out in the direction of the 
 Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit-war- 
 ren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William 
 Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence ; 
 but he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. 
 I had no idea that he was in front of me. When about a 
 hundred yards from the Pool I heard a cry of " Cooee !" 
 which was a usual signal between my father and myself. I 
 then hurried forward, and found him standing by the Pool. 
 He appeared to be much surprised at seeing me, and asked 
 me rather roughly what I was doing there. A conversation 
 ensued which led to high words, and almost to blows, for my 



 THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY 83 

 father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his 
 passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him, and returned 
 towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 
 yards, however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, 
 which caused me to run back again. I found my father ex- 
 piring upon the ground, with his head terribly injured. I 
 dropped my gun, and held him in my arms, but he almost in- 
 stantly expired. I knelt beside him for some minutes, and 
 then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, his house 
 being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one near 
 my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came 
 by his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat 
 cold and forbidding in his manners ; but he had, as far as I 
 know, no active enemies. I know nothing further of the 
 matter.' 

 " The Coroner : Did your father make any statement to you 
 before he died ? 

 " Witness : He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch 
 some allusion to a rat. 

 " The Coroner : What did you understand by that ? 

 " Witness : It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that 
 he was delirious. 

 " The Coroner : What was the point upon which you and 
 your father had this final quarrel } 

 " Witness : I should prefer not to answer. 

 " The Coroner : I am afraid that I must press it. 

 " Witness : It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can 
 assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy 
 wliich followed. 

 " The Coroner : That is for the court to decide. I need 
 not point out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice 
 your case considerably in any future proceedings which may 
 arise. 

 " Witness : I must still refuse. 

 " The Coroner : I understand that the cry of ' Cooee ' was 
 a common signal between you and your father ? 



 84 ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES 

 " Witness : It was. 

 " The Coroner : How was it, then, that he uttered it before 
 he saw you, and before he even knew that you had returned 
 from Bristol ? 

 " Witness (with considerable confusion) : I do not know. 

 *' A Juryman : Did you see nothing which aroused your 
 suspicions when you returned on hearing the cry, and found 
 your father fatally injured ? 

 " Witness : Nothing definite. 

 " The Coroner : What do you mean ? 

 " Witness : I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed 
 out into the open, that I could think of nothing except of 
 my father. Yet I have a vague impression that as I ran for- 
 ward something lay upon the ground to the left of me. It 
 seemed to me to be something gray in color, a coat of some 
 sort, or a plaid perhaps. When I rose from my father I 
 looked round for it, but it was gone. 

 " ' Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for 
 help ?' 

 " * Yes, it was gone.' 

 You cannot say what it was ?' 

 No, I had a feeling something was there.' ^ 

 " ' How far from the body ?' 

 " ' A dozen yards or so.' 

 " * And how far from the edge of the wood ?' 

 " ' About the same.' 

 " ' Then if it was removed it was while you were within a 
 dozen yards of it ?' 

 *' ' Yes, but with my back towards it.' 

 " This concluded the examination of the witness." 

 " I see," said I, as I glanced down the column, " that the 
 coroner in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon 
 young McCarthy. He calls attention, land with reason, to the 
 discrepancy about his father having signalled to him before 
 seeing him, also to his refusal to give details of his conversa- 
 tion with his father, and his singular account of his father's 






 THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY 85 

 dying words. They are all, as he remarks, very much against 
 the son." 

 Holmes laughed softly to himself, and stretched himself out 
 upon the cushioned seat. " Both you and the coroner have 
 been at some pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest 
 points in the young man's favor. Don't you see that you 
 alternately give him credit for having too much imagination 
 and too little. Too little, if he could not invent a cause of 
 quarrel which would give him the sympathy of the jury ; too 
 much, if he evolved from his own inner consciousness any- 
 thing so outr^ as a dying reference to a rat, and the incident 
 of the vanishing cloth. No, sir, I shall approach this case 
 from the point of view that what this young man says is true, 
 and we shall see whither that hypothesis will lead us. And 
 now here is my pocket Petrarch, and not another word shall 
 I say of this case until we are on the scene of action. We 
 lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be there in twenty 
 minutes." 

 It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing 
 through the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleam- 
 ing Severn, found ourselves at the pretty little country-town 
 of Ross. A lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was 
 waiting for us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown 
 dustcoat and leather-leggings which he wore in deference to 
 his rustic surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognizing 
 Lestrade, of Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the 
 Hereford Arms, where a room had already been engaged 
 for us. 

 " I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade, as we sat over 
 a cup of tea. " I knew your energetic nature, and that you 
 would not be happy until you had been on the scene of the 
 crime." 

 " It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes 
 answered. " It is entirely a question of barometric pressure." 

 Lestrade looked startled. " I do not quite follow," he 
 said. 



 86 ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES 

 " How is the glass ? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and 
 not a cloud in the sky. I have a easeful of cigarettes here 
 which need smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to 
 the usual country hotel abomination. I do not think that it 
 is probable that I shall use the carriage to-night." 

 Lestrade laughed indulgently. " You have, no doubt, al- 
 ready formed your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. 
 " The case is as plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes 
 into it the plainer it becomes. Still, of course, one can't re- 
 fuse a lady, and such a very positive one, too. She had heard 
 of you, and would have your opinion, though I repeatedly told 
 her that there was nothing which you could do which I had 
 not already done. Why, bless my soul ! here is her carriage 
 at the door." 

 He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room 
 one of the most lovely young women that I have ever seen 
 in my life. Her violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink 
 flush upon her cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost 
 in her overpowering excitement and concern. 

 " Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes !" she cried, glancing from one 
 to the other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, 
 fastening upon my companion, " I am so glad that you have 
 come. I have driven down to tell you so. I know that James 
 didn't do it. I know it, and I want you to start upon your 
 work knowing it, too. Never let yourself doubt upon that 
 point. We have known each other since we were little chil- 
 dren, and I know his faults as no one else does ; but he is too 
 tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a charge is absurd to any 
 one who really knows him." 

 " I hope we may clear him. Miss Turner," said Sherlock 
 Holmes. "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." 

 " But you have read the evidence. You have formed some 
 conclusion ?• Do you not see some loophole, some flaw ? Do 
 you not yourself think that he is innocent ? 

 *' I think that it is very probable." 

 " There, now !" she cried, throwing back her head, and 



 THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY §7 

 looking defiantly at Lestrade. " You hear ! He gives me 
 hopes." 

 " Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. " I am afraid that my 
 colleague has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," 
 he said. 

 " But he is right. Oh ! I know that he is right. James 
 never did it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure 
 that the reason why he would not speak about it to the cor- 
 oner was because I was concerned in it." 

 " In what way ?" asked Holmes. 

 " It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his 
 father had many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was 
 very anxious that there should be a marriage between us. 
 James and I have always loved each other as brother and sis- 
 er ; but of course he is young, and has seen very little of life 
 yet, and — and — well, he naturally did not wish to do anything 
 like that yet. So there were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was 
 one of them." 

 "And your father ?" asked Holmes. " Was he in favor of 
 such a union ?" 

 " No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy 
 was in favor of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh 
 young face as Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning 
 glances at her. 

 *' Thank you for this information," said he. " May I see 
 your father if I call to-morrow ?" 

 " I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." 

 " The doctor .?" 

 " Yes, have you not heard ? Poor father has never been 
 strong for years back, but this has broken him down com- 
 pletely. He has taken to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that 
 he is a wreck, and that his nervous system is shattered. Mr. 
 McCarthy was the only man alive who had known dad in the 
 old days in Victoria." 

 " Ha ! In Victoria ! That is important." 

 " Yes, at the mines." 



 88 ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES 

 " Quite so ; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. 
 Turner made his money. 

 " Yes, certainly." 

 " Thank you. Miss Turner. You have been of material 
 assistance to me." 

 " You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No 
 doubt you will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, 
 Mr. Holmes, do tell him that I know him to be innocent." 

 " I will, Miss Turner." 

 " I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses 
 me so if I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your 
 undertaking." She hurried from the room as impulsively as 
 she had entered, and we heard the wheels of her carriage rat- 
 tle off down the street, 

 " I am ashamed of you. Holmes," said Lestrade, with dig- 
 nity, after a few minutes' silence. " Why should you raise up 
 hopes which you are bound to disappoint } I am not over- 
 tender of heart, but I call it cruel." 

 " I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," 
 said Holmes. " Have you an order to see him in prison." 

 " Yes, but only for you and me." 

 " Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. 
 We have still time to take a train to Hereford and see him 
 to-night ?" 

 ** Ample." 

 " Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it 
 very slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." 

 I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered 
 through the streets of the little town, finally returning to the 
 hotel, where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in 
 a yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, 
 however, when compared to the deep mystery through which 
 we were groping, and I found my attention wander so contin- 
 ually from the fiction to the fact, that I at last flung it across 
 the room, and gave myself up entirely to a consideration of 
 the events of the day. Supposing that this unhappy young 



 THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY . 89 

 man's story was absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what 
 absolutely unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have 
 occurred between the time when he parted from his father, 
 and the moment when, drawn back by his screams, he rushed 
 into the glade ? It was something terrible and deadly. What 
 could it be ? Might not the nature of the injuries reveal 
 something to my medical instincts ? I rang the bell, and called 
 for the weekly county paper, which contained a verbatim ac- 
 count of the inquest. In the surgeon's deposition it was stated 
 that the posterior third of the left parietal bone and the 
 left half of the occipital bone had been shattered by a heavy 
 blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot upon my 
 own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from 
 behind. That was to some extent in favor of the accused, as 
 when seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. 
 Still, it did not go for very much, for the older man might have 
 turned his back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth 
 while to call Holmes's attention to it. Then there was the 
 peculiar dying reference to a rat. What could that mean ? It 
 could not be delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow 
 does not commonly become delirious. No, it was more likely 
 to be an attempt to explain how he met his fate. But what 
 could it indicate ? I cudgelled my brains to find some pos- 
 sible explanation. And then the incident of the gray cloth, 
 seen by young McCarthy. If that were true, the murderer 
 must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his 
 overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to 
 return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was 
 kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a 
 tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was ! 
 I did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much 
 faith in Sherlock Holmes's insight that I could not lose hope 
 as long as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his convic- 
 tion of young McCarthy's innocence. 

 It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came 
 back alone, for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. 

 \ 



 90 ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES 

 " The glass still keeps very high," he remarked, as he sat 
 down. It is of importance that it should not rain before we 
 are able to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man 
 should be at his very best and keenest for such nice work as 
 that, and I did not wish to do it when fagged by a long 
 journey. I have seen young McCarthy." 

 "And what did you learn from him .?" 

 "Nothing." 

 " Could he throw no light .?" 

 " None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he 
 knew who had done it, and was screening him or her, but I 
 am convinced now that he is as puzzled as every one else. He 
 is not a very quick-witted youth, though comely to look at, 
 and, I should think, sound at heart." 

 " I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, " if it is indeed a 
 fact that he was averse to a marriage with so charming a 
 young lady as this Miss Turner." 

 " Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is 
 madly, insanely in love with her, but some two years ago, 
 when he was only a lad, and before he really knew her, for 
 she had been away five years at a boarding-school, what does 
 the idiot do but get into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol, 
 and marry her at a registry office ? No one knows a word of 
 the matter, but you can imagine how maddening it must be to 
 him to be upbraided for not doing what he would give his 
 very eyes to do, but what he knows to be absolutely impos- 
 sible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort which made him throw 
 his hands up into the air when his father, at their last inter- 
 view, was goading him on to propose to Miss Turner. On the 
 other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, and his 
 father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would have 
 thrown hirti over utterly had he known the truth. It was with 
 his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in 
 Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark 
 that point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, 
 however, for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is 



 THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY 9I 

 in serious trouble, and likely to be hanged, has thrown him 
 over utterly, and has written to him to say that she has a 
 husband already in the Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is 
 really no tie between them. I think that that bit of news has 
 consoled young McCarthy for all that he has suffered." 

 " But if he is innocent, who has done it ?" 

 " Ah ! who } I would call your attention very particularly 
 to two points. One is that the murdered man had an ap- 
 pointment with some one at the Pool, and that the some one 
 could not have been his son, for his son was away, and he did 
 not know when he would return. The second is that the 
 murdered man was heard to cry ' Cooee !' before he knew 
 that his son had returned. Those are the crucial points upon 
 which the case depends. And now let us talk about George 
 Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all minor matters 
 until to-morrow." 

 There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morn- 
 ing broke bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade 
 called for us with the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley 
 Farm and the Boscombe Pool. 

 "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. 
 " It is said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life 
 is despaired of." 

 " An elderly man, I presume ?" said Holmes. 

 " About sixty ; but his constitution has been shattered by 
 his life abroad, and he has been in failing health for some 
 time. This business has had a very bad effect upon him. 
 He was an old friend of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great 
 benefactor to him, for I have learned that he gave him 
 Hatherley Farm rent free." 

 " Indeed ! That is interesting," said Holmes. 

 " Oh yes ! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. 
 Everybody about here speaks of his kindness to him." 

 " Really ! Does it not strike you as a little singular that 
 this McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and 
 to have been under such obligations to Turner, should still 



 92 ADVENTURES OK SHERLOCK HOLMES 

 talk of marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presum- 
 ably, heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure 
 manner, as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else 
 would follow ? It is the more strange, since we know that 
 Turner himself was averse to the idea. The daughter told us 
 as much. Do you not deduce something from that }" 

 "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said 
 Lestrade, winking at me. " I find it hard enough to tackle 
 facts. Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." 

 " You are right," said Holmes, demurely ; " you do find it 
 very hard to tackle the facts." 

 " Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it 
 difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade, with some warmth. 

 " And that is—'" 

 " That McCarthy, senior, met his death from McCarthy, 
 junior, and that all theories to the contrary are the merest 
 moonshine." 

 "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said 
 Holmes, laughing. " But I am very much mistaken if this 
 is not Hatherley Farm upon the left." 

 " Yes, that is it." It was a wide-spread, comfortable-looking 
 building, two-storied, slate roofed, with great yellow blotches of 
 lichen upon the gray walls. The drawn blinds and the smoke- 
 less chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the 
 weight of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the 
 door, when the maid, at Holmes's request, showed us the boots 
 which her master wore at the time of his death, and also a 
 pair of the son's, though not the pair which he had then had. 
 Having measured these very carefully from seven or eight 
 different points. Holmes desired to be led to the court-yard, 
 from which we all followed the winding track which led to 
 Boscombe Pool. 

 Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon 
 such a scent at this. Men who had only known the quiet 
 thinker and logician of Baker Street would have failed to 
 recognize him. His face flushed and darkened. His brows 



 M 



 f!lmi 







 THE MAID SHOWED US THE BOOTS.' 



 THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY 93 

 were drawn into two hard, black lines, while his eyes shone 
 out from beneath them with a steely glitter. His face was 
 bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips compressed, 
 and the veins stood out like whip-cord in his long, sinewy 
 neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal lust 
 for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated 
 upon the matter before him, that a question or remark fell un- 
 heeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, 
 impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his 
 way along the track which ran through the meadows, and so 
 by way of the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, 
 marshy ground, as is all that district, and there were marks 
 of many feet, both upon the path and amid the short grass 
 which bounded it on either side. Sometimes Holmes would 
 hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and once he made quite a lit- 
 tle detour into the meadow. Lestrade and I walked behind 
 him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, while I 
 watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the 
 conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards 
 a definite end. 

 The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of 
 water some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary be- 
 tween the Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy 
 Mr. Turner. Above the woods which lined it upon the farther 
 side we could see the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the 
 site of the rich land-owner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side 
 of the Pool the woods grew very thick, and there was a narrow 
 belt of sodden grass twenty paces across between the edge 
 of the trees and the reeds which lined the lake. Lestrade 
 showed us the exact spot at which the body had been found, 
 and, indeed, so moist was the ground, that I could plainly see 
 the traces which had been left by the fall of the stricken man. 
 To Holmes, as I could see by his eager face and peering eyes, 
 very many other things were to be read upon the trampled 
 grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking up a scent, 
 and then turned upon my companion. 



 94 ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES 

 " What did you go into the Pool for ?" he asked. 
 " I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some 
 weapon or other trace. But how on earth — " 

 " Oh, tut, tut ! I have no time ! That left foot of yours 
 with its inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace 
 it, and there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it 
 would all have been had I been here before they came like a 
 herd of buffalo, and wallowed all over it. Here is where the 
 party with the lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all 
 tracks for six or eight feet round the body. But here are 
 three separate tracks of the same feet." He drew out a lens, 
 and lay down upon his waterproof to have a better view, talk- 
 ing all the time rather to himself than to us. " These are 
 young McCarthy's feet. Twice he was walking, and once he 
 ran swiftly so that the soles are deeply marked, and the heels 
 hardly visible. That bears out his story. He ran when he 
 saw his father on the ground. Then here are the father's feet 
 as he paced up and down. What is this, then ? It is the butt- 
 end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this ? Ha, 
 ha ! What have we here ? Tiptoes ! tiptoes ! Square, too, 
 quite unusual boots ! They come, they go, they come again — 
 of course that was for the cloak. Now where did they come 
 from ?" He ran up and down, sometimes losing, sometimes 
 finding the track until we were well within the edge of the 
 wood, and under the shadow of a great beech, the largest tree 
 in the neighborhood. Holmes traced his way to the farther 
 side of this, and lay down once more upon his face with a lit- 
 tle cry of satisfaction. For a long time he remained there, 
 turning over the leaves and dried sticks, gathering up what 
 seemed to me to be dust into an envelope, and examining 
 with his lens not only the ground, but even the bark of the 
 tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying 
 among the moss, and this also he carefully examined and re- 
 tained. Then he followed a pathway through the wood until 
 he came to the high-road, where all traces were lost. 

 *' It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, 



 THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY 95 

 returning to his natural manner. " I fancy that this gray 
 house on the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go 
 in and have a word with Moran, and perhaps write a little 
 note. Having done that, we may drive back to our luncheon. 
 You may walk to the cab, and I shall be with you presently." 

 It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab, and 
 drove back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the 
 stone which he had picked up in the wood. 

 " This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it 
 out. " The murder was done with it." 

 " I see no marks." 

 " There are none." 

 " How do you know, then ?" 

 " The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a 
 few days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been 
 taken. It corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of 
 any other weapon." 

 " And the murderer .?" 

 " Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears 
 thick-soled shooting-boots and a gray cloak, smokes Indian 
 cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt penknife in his 
 pocket. There are several other indications, but these may 
 be enough to aid us in our search." 

 Lestrade laughed. " I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," 
 he said. " Theories are all very well, but we have to deal 
 with a hard-headed British jury." 

 " Nous verrons,'" answered Holmes, calmly. " You work 
 your own method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy 
 this afternoon, and shall probably return to London by the 
 evening train." 

 " And leave your case unfinished ?" 

 "No, finished." 

 " But the mystery ?" 

 " It is solved." 

 " Who was the criminal, then ?" 

 "The gentleman I describe." 



 96 ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES 

 " But who is he ?" 

 " Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not 
 such a populous neighborhood." 

 Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. *' I am a practical man," 
 he said, " and I really cannot undertake to go about the coun- 
 try looking for a left-handed gentleman with a game-leg. I 
 should become the laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." 

 " All right," said Holmes, quietly. " I have given you the 
 chance. Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop 
 you a line before I leave." 

 Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, 
 where we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent 
 and buried in thought with a pained expression upon his face, 
 as one who finds himself in a perplexing position. 

 " Look here, Watson," he said, when the cloth was cleared ; 
 "just sit down in this chair and let me preach to you for a 
 little. I don't quite know what to do, and I should value your 
 advice. Light a cigar, and let me expound." 

 " Pray do so." 

 " Well, now, in considering this case there are two points 
 about young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both in- 
 stantly, although they impressed me in his favor and you 
 against him. One was the fact that his father should, accord- 
 ing to his account, cry ' Cooee !' before seeing him. The 
 other was his singular dying reference to a rat. He mumbled 
 several words, you understand, but that was all that caught 
 the son's ear. Now from this double point our research must 
 commence, and we will begin it by presuming that what the 
 lad says is absolutely true." 

 " What of this ' Cooee !' then ?" 

 " Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. 
 The son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere 
 chance that he was within ear-shot. The * Cooee !' was meant 
 to attract the attention of whoever it was that he had the ap- 
 pointment with. But ' Cooee ' is a distinctly Australian cry, 
 and one which is used between Australians. There is a strong 



 THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY 97 

 presumption that the person whom McCarthy expected to 
 meet him at Boscombe Pool was some one who had been in 
 Australia." 

 " What of the rat, then ?" 

 Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and 
 flattened it out on the table. " This is a map of the Colony 
 of Victoria," he said. " I wired to Bristol for it last night." 
 He put his hand over part of the map. " What do you read ?" 
 he asked. 

 " ARAT," I read. 

 " And now ?" He raised his hand. 

 "BALL ARAT." 

 "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of 
 which his son only caught the last two syllables. He was try- 
 ing to utter the name of his murderer. So-and-so, of Ballarat." 

 " It is wonderful !" I exclaimed. 

 " It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field 
 down considerably. The possession of a gray garment was a 
 third point which, granting the son's statement to be correct, 
 was a certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness 
 to the definite conception of an Australian from Ballarat with 
 a gray cloak." 

 " Certainly." 

 " And one who was at home in the district, for the Pool 
 can only be approached by the farm or by the estate, where 
 strangers could hardly wander." 

 " Quite so." 

 " Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination 
 of the ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that 
 imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." 

 " But how did you gain them ?" 

 " You know my method. It is founded upon the observ- 
 ance of trifles." 

 " His height I know that you might roughly judge from the 
 length of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their 
 traces." 

 7 



 98 ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES 

 " Yes, they were peculiar boots." 

 " But his lameness ?" 

 " The impression of his right foot was always less distinct 
 than his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because 
 he limped — he was lame." 

 " But his left-handedness." 

 " You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as 
 recorded by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck 
 from immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. 
 Now, how can that be unless it were by a left-handed man ? 
 He had stood behind that tree during the interview between 
 the father and son. He had even smoked there. I found the 
 ash of a cigar, which my special knowledge of tobacco ashes 
 enabled me to pronounce as an Indian cigar. I have, as you 
 know, devoted some attention to this, and written a little 
 monograph on the ashes of 140 different varieties of pipe, 
 cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the ash, I then 
 looked round and discovered the stump among the moss 
 where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety 
 which are rolled in Rotterdam." 

 " And the cigar-holder ?" 

 "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. 
 Therefore he used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not 
 bitten off, but the cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a 
 blunt pen-knife." 

 " Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man 
 from which he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent 
 human life as truly as if you had cut the cord which was hang- 
 ing him. I see the direction in which all this points. The 
 culprit is — " 

 " Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door 
 of our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. 

 The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. 
 His slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appear- 
 ance of decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy feat- 
 ures, and his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed 



 THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY 99 

 of unusual strength of body and of character. His tangled 
 beard, grizzled hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows com- 
 bined to give an air of dignity and power to his appearance, 
 but his face was of an ashen white, while his lips and the cor- 
 ners of his nostrils were tinged with a shade of blue. It was 
 clear to me at a glance that he was in the grip of some deadly 
 and chronic disease. 

 " Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes, gently. " You 
 had my note H" 

 " Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you 
 wished to see me here to avoid scandal." 

 " I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." 

 " And why did you wish to see me ?" He looked across at 
 my companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his 
 question was already answered. 

 "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the 
 words. " It is so. I know all about McCarthy." 

 The old man sank his face in his hands. " God help me !" 
 he cried. " But I would not have let the young man come to 
 harm. I give you my word that I would have spoken out if it 
 went against him at the Assizes." 

 " I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes, gravely. 

 " I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear 
 girl. It would break her heart — it will break her heart when 
 she hears that I am arrested." 

 " It may not come to that," said Holmes. 

 "What!" 

 "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your 
 daughter who required my presence here, and I am acting in 
 her interests. Young McCarthy must be got off, however." 

 " I am a dying man," said old Turner. " I have had dia- 
 betes for years. My doctor says it is a question whether I 
 shall live a month. Yet I would rather die under my own 
 roof than in a jail." 

 Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his 
 hand and a bundle of paper before him. " Just tell us the 



 lOO ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES 

 truth," he said. " I shall jot down the facts. You will sign 
 it, and Watson here can witness it. Then I could produce 
 your confession at the last extremity to save young McCarthy. 
 I promise you that I shall not use it unless it is absolutely 
 needed." 

 " It's as well," said the old man ; " it's a question whether 
 I shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I 
 should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make 
 the thing clear to you ; it has been a long time in the acting, 
 but will not take me long to tell. 

 " You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a 
 devil incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the 
 clutches of such a man as he. His grip has been upon me 
 these twenty years, and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you 
 first how I came to be in his power. 

 " It was in the early sixties at the diggings. I was a young 
 chap then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand 
 at anything ; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had 
 no luck with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word be- 
 came what you would call over here a highway robber. There 
 were six of us, and we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a 
 station from time to time, or stopping the wagons on the road 
 to the diggings. Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went 
 under, and our party is still remembered in the colony as the 
 Ballarat Gang. 

 " One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Mel- 
 bourne, and we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were 
 six troopers and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emp- 
 tied four of their saddles at the first volley. Three of our 
 boys were killed, however, before we got the swag. I put my 
 pistol to the head of the wagon-driver, who was this very man 
 McCarthy. I wish to the Lord that I had shot him then, but 
 I spared him, though I saw his wicked little eyes fixed on my 
 face, as though to remember every feature. We got away with 
 the gold, became wealthy men, and made our way over to 
 England without being suspected. There I parted from my 



 THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY lOI 

 old pals, and determined to settle down to a quiet and respect- 
 able life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in the 
 market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, 
 to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, 
 too, and though my wife died young, she left me my dear little 
 Alice. Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed 
 to lead me down the right path as nothing else had ever done. 
 In a word, I turned over a new leaf, and did my best to make 
 up for the past. All was going well when McCarthy laid his 
 grip upon me. 

 "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met 
 him in Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot 
 to his foot. 

 " ' Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm ; 
 * we'll be as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me 
 and my son, and you can have the keeping of us. If you 
 don't — it's a fine, law-abiding country is England, and there's 
 always a policeman within hail' 

 " Well, down they came to the West country, there was no 
 shaking them off, and there they have lived rent free on my 
 best land ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no 
 forgetfulness ; turn where I -would, there was his cunning, 
 grinning face at my elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, 
 for he soon saw I was more afraid of her knowing my past 
 than of the police. Whatever he wanted he must have, and 
 whatever it was I gave him without question, land, money, 
 houses, until at last he asked a thing which I could not give. 
 He asked for Alice. 

 " His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and 
 as I was known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke 
 to him that his lad should step into the whole property. But 
 there I was firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed 
 with mine ; not that I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood 
 was in him, and that was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy 
 threatened. I braved him to do his worst. We were to meet 
 at the Pool midway between our houses to talk it over. 



 I02 ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES 

 "When I went down there I found him talking with his 
 son, so I smoked a cigar, and waited behind a tree until he 
 should be alone. But as I listened to his talk all that was 
 black and bitter in me seemed to come uppermost. He was 
 urging his son to marry my daughter with as little regard for 
 what she might think as if she were a slut from off the streets. 
 It drove me mad to think that I and all that I held most dear 
 should be in the power of such a man as this. Could I not 
 snap the bond ^ I was already a dying and a desperate man. 
 Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, I knew that 
 my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl ! 
 Both could be saved, if I could but silence that foul tongue. 
 I did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have 
 sinned, I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But 
 that my girl should be entangled in the same meshes which 
 held me was more than I could suffer. I struck him down 
 with no more compunction than if he had been some foul and 
 venomous beast. His cry brought back his son ; but I had 
 gained the cover of the wood, though I was forced to go back 
 to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in my flight. That is 
 the true story, gentlemen, of all that occurred." 

 " Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes, as the 
 old man signed the statement which had been drawn out. 
 " I pray that we may never be exposed to such a temptation." 

 " I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do }" 

 " In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware 
 that you will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher 
 court than the Assizes. I will keep your confession, and, if 
 McCarthy is condemned, I shall be forced to use it. If not, 
 it shall never be seen by mortal eye ; and your secret, wheth- 
 er you be alive or dead, shall be safe with us." 

 *' Farewell, then," said the old man, solemnly. "Your own 
 death-beds, when they come, will be the easier for the thought 
 of the peace which you have given to mine." Tottering and 
 shaking in all his giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the 
 room. 



 THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY IO3 

 "God help us !" said Holmes, after a long silence. "Why 
 does fate play such tricks with poor, helpless worms ? I nev- 
 er hear of such a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's 
 words, and say, * There, but for the grace of God, goes Sher- 
 lock Holmes.' " 

 James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes, on the 
 strength of a number of objections which had been drawn out 
 by Holmes, and submitted to the defending counsel. Old 
 Turner lived for seven months after our interview, but he is 
 now dead ; and there is every prospect that the son and 
 daughter may come to live happily together, in ignorance of 
 the black cloud which rests upon their past. 




 BDventure ID 

 THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS 

 IHEN I glance over my notes and records of the 
 Sherlock Holmes cases between the years '82 and 
 '90, I am faced by so many which present strange 
 and interesting features that it is no easy matter 
 to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, how- 
 ever, have already gained publicity through the papers, and 
 others have not offered a field for those peculiar qualities 
 which my friend possessed in so high a degree, and which it 
 is the object of these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have 
 baffled his analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, begin- 
 nings without an ending, while others have been but partially 
 cleared up, and have their explanations founded rather upon 
 conjecture and surmise than on that absolute logical proof 
 which was so dear to him. There is, however, one of these 
 last which was so remarkable in its details and so startling in 
 its results that I am tempted to give some account of it, in 
 spite of the fact that there are points in connection with it 
 which never have been, and probably never will be, entirely 
 cleared up. 

 The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of 
 greater or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among 
 my headings under this one twelve months I find an account 
 of the adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur 
 Mendicant Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower 
 vault of a furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the 
 loss of the British bark Sophy Anderson^ of the singular ad- 
 ventures of the Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and 



 THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS I05 

 finally of the Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as 
 may be remembered, Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding 
 up the dead man's watch, to prove that it had been wound up 
 two hours before, and that therefore the deceased had gone to 
 bed within that time — a deduction which was of the greatest 
 importance in clearing up the case. All these I may sketch 
 out at some future date, but none of them present such singu- 
 lar features as the strange train of circumstances which I have 
 now taken up my pen to describe. 

 It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial 
 gales had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind 
 had screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, 
 so that even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we 
 were forced to raise our minds for the instant from the rou- 
 tine of life, and to recognize the presence of those great ele- 
 mental forces which shriek at mankind through the bars of 
 his civilization, like untamed beasts in a cage. As evening 
 drew in, the storm grew higher and louder, and the wind cried 
 and sobbed like a child in the chimney. Sherlock Holmes 
 sat moodily at one side of the fireplace cross - indexing his 
 records of crime, while I at the other was deep in one of Clark 
 Russell's fine sea-stories, until the howl of the gale from with- 
 out seemed to blend with the text, and the splash of the rain 
 to lengthen out into the long swash of the sea waves. My 
 wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a few days I was 
 a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker Street. 

 "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was 
 surely the bell. Who could come to-night ? Some friend of 
 yours, perhaps?" 

 " Except yourself I have none," he answered. " I do not en- 
 courage visitors." 

 " A client, then ?" 

 " If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a 
 man out on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it 
 that it is more likely to be some crony of the landlady's." 

 Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for 



 Io6 ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES 

 there came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. 
 He stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from 
 himself and towards the vacant chair upon which a new-comer 
 must sit. " Come in !" said he. 

 The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at 
 the outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of 
 refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The steaming um- 
 brella which he held in his hand, and his long shining water- 
 proof told of the fierce weather through which he had come. 
 He looked about him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and 
 I could see that his face was pale and his eyes heavy, like 
 those of a man who is weighed down with some great anxiety. 

 " I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pi7ice- 
 nez to his eyes. " I trust that I am not intruding. I fear 
 that I have brought some traces of the storm and rain into 
 your snug chamber." 

 " Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. " They 
 may rest here on the hook, and will be dry presently. You 
 have come up from the south-west, I see." 

 "Yes, from Horsham." 

 " That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe- 
 caps is quite distinctive." 

 " I have come for advice." 

 " That is easily got." 

 "And help." 

 " That is not always so easy." 

 " I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major 
 Prendergast how you saved him in the Tankerville Club 
 Scandal." 

 " Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at 
 cards." 

 " He said that you could solve anything." 

 " He said too much." 

 "That you are never beaten." 

 " I have been beaten four times— three times by men, and 
 once by a woman." 



 THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS I07 

 But what is that compared with the number of your suc- 



 cesses r 



 ?" 



 " It is true that I have been generally successful." 

 "Then you may be so with me." 

 " I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire, and fa- 
 vor me with some details as to your case." 

 " It is no ordinary one." 

 " None of those which come to me are. I am the last court 
 of appeal." 

 " And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, 
 you have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable 
 chain of events than those which have happened in my own 
 family." 

 "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us 
 the essential facts from the commencement, and I can after- 
 wards question you as to those details which seem to me to be 
 most important." 

 The young man pulled his chair up, and pushed his wet 
 feet out towards the blaze. 

 " My name," said he, " is John Openshaw, but my own af- 
 fairs have, as far as I can understand it, little to do with this 
 awful business. It is an hereditary matter ; so in order to give 
 you an idea of the facts, I must go back to the commence- 
 ment of the affair. 

 "You must know that my grandfather had two sons — my 
 uncle Elias and my father Joseph. My father had a small 
 factory at Coventry, which he enlarged at the time of the in- 
 vention of bicycling. He was the patentee of the Openshaw 
 unbreakable tire, and his business met with such success that 
 he was able to sell it, and to retire upon a handsome compe- 
 tence. 

 " My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a 
 young man, and became a planter in Florida, where he was 
 reported to have done very well. At the time of the war 
 he fought in Jackson's army, and afterwards under Hood, 
 where he rose to be a colonel. When Lee laid down his arms 



 I08 ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES 

 my uncle returned to his plantation, where he remained for 
 three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came back to 
 Europe, and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. 
 He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and 
 his reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, 
 and his dislike of the Republican policy in extending the 
 franchise to them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick- 
 tempered, very foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a 
 most retiring disposition. During all the years that he lived 
 at Horsham I doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had 
 a garden and two or three fields round his house, and there 
 he would take his exercise, though very often for weeks on 
 end he would never leave his room. He drank a great deal 
 of brandy, and smoked very heavily, but he would see no so- 
 ciety, and did not want any friends, not even his own brother. 

 " He didn't mind me, in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at 
 the time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or 
 so. This would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight 
 or nine years in England. He begged my father to let me 
 live with him, and he was very kind to me in his way. When 
 he was sober he used to be fond of playing backgammon and 
 draughts with me, and he would make me his representative 
 both with the servants and with the tradespeople, so that by 
 the time that I was sixteen I was quite master of the house. 
 I kept all the keys, and could go where I liked and do what I 
 liked, so long as I did not disturb him in his privacy. There 
 was one singular exception, however, for he had a single room, 
 a lumber-room up among the attics, which was invariably 
 locked, and which he would never permit either me or anyone 
 else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped through 
 the key-hole, but I was never able to see more than such a 
 collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in 
 such a room. 

 "One day — it was in March, 1883 — a letter with a foreign 
 stamp lay upon the table in front of the Colonel's plate. It 
 was not a common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills 



 THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS I09 

 were all paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any 
 sort. ' From India !' said he, as he took it up, * Pondicherry 
 postmark ! What can this be ?' Opening it hurriedly, out 
 there jumped five little dried orange pips, which pattered 
 down upon his plate. I began to laugh at this, but the laugh 
 was struck from my lips at the sight of his face. His lip had 
 fallen, his eyes were protruding, his skin the color of putty, 
 and he glared at the envelope which he still held in his trem- 
 bling hand. ' K. K. K. !' he shrieked, and then, ' My God, my 
 God, my sins have overtaken me !' 

 " ' What is it, uncle ?' I cried. 

 " * Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to 
 his room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the 
 envelope, and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, 
 just above the gum, the letter K three times repeated. There 
 was nothing else save the five dried pips. What could be the 
 reason of his overpowering terror .? I left the breakfast-table, 
 and as I ascended the stair I met him coming down with an 
 old rusty key, which must have belonged to the attic, in one 
 hand, and a small brass box, like a cash-box, in the other. 

 "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them 
 still,' said he, with an oath. ' Tell Mary that I shall want a 
 fire in my room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Hors- 
 ham lawyer.' 

 " I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was 
 asked to step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, 
 and in the grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of 
 burned paper, while the brass box stood open and empty be- 
 side it. As I glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that 
 upon the lid were printed the treble K which I had read in the 
 morning upon the envelope. 

 " *I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I 
 leave my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvan- 
 tages to my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, de- 
 scend to you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good ! 
 If you find you cannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it 



 no ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES 

 to your deadliest enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two- 
 edged thing, but I can't say what turn things are going to 
 take. Kindly sign the paper where Mr. Fordham shows you.' 

 " I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it 
 away with him. The singular incident made, as you may 
 think, the deepest impression upon me, and I pondered over 
 it, and turned it every way in my mind without being able to 
 make anything of it. Yet I could not shake off the vague 
 feeling of dread which it left behind though the sensation 
 grew less keen as the weeks passed, and nothing happened to 
 disturb the usual routine of our lives. I could see a change 
 in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, and he was 
 less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his time he 
 would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the in- 
 side, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken 
 frenzy, and would burst out of the house and tear about the 
 garden with a revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was 
 afraid of no man, and that he was not to be cooped up, like a 
 sheep in a pen, by man or devil. When these hot fits were 
 over, however, he would rush tumultuously in at the door, and 
 lock and bar it behind him, like a man who can brazen it out 
 no longer against the terror which lies at the roots of his soul. 
 At such times I have seen his face, even on a cold day, glis- 
 ten with moisture, as though it were new raised from a 
 basin. 

 " Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and 
 not to abuse your patience, there came a night when he made 
 one of those drunken sallies from which he never came back. 
 We found him, when we went to search for him, face down- 
 ward in a little green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of 
 the garden. There was no sign of any violence, and the wa- 
 ter was but two feet deep, so that the jury, having regard to 
 his known eccentricity, brought in a verdict of suicide. But 
 I, who knew how he winced from the very thought of death, 
 had much ado to persuade myself that he had gone out of his 
 way to meet it. The matter passed, however, and my father 



 THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS III 

 entered into possession of the estate, and of some ^14,000, 
 which lay to his credit at the bank." 

 " One moment," Holmes interposed. " Your statement is, 
 I foresee, one of the most remarkable to which I have ever 
 listened. Let me have the date of the reception by your un- 
 cle of the letter, and the date of his supposed suicide." 

 "The latter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was 
 seven weeks later, upon the night of May 2d." 

 " Thank you. Pray proceed." 

 " When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at 
 my request, made a careful examination of the attic, which 
 had been always locked up. We found the brass box there, 
 although its contents had been destroyed. On the inside of 
 the cover was a paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. re- 
 peated upon it, and ' Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a reg- 
 ister' written beneath. These, we presume, indicated the 
 nature of the papers which had been destroyed by Colonel 
 Openshaw. For the rest, there was nothing of much impor- 
 tance in the attic, save a great many scattered papers and 
 note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in America. Some of 
 them were of the war time, and showed that he had done his 
 duty well, and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. Oth- 
 ers were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern 
 States, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had 
 evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag poli- 
 ticians who had been sent down from the North. 

 " Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to 
 live at Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until 
 the January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I 
 heard my father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat to- 
 gether at the breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a 
 newly-opened envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips 
 in the outstretched palm of the other one. He had always 
 laughed at what he called my cock-and-a-buU story about the 
 Colonel, but he looked very scared and puzzled now that the 
 same thing had come upon himself. 



 112 ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES 

 *• * Why, what on earth does this mean, John ?' he stam- 
 mered. 

 " My heart had turned to lead. * It is K. K. K.,' said I. 

 " He looked inside the envelope. * So it is,' he cried. 
 ' Here are the very letters. But what is this written above 
 them ?' 

 " ' Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his 
 shoulder. 

 " ' What papers ? What sundial V he asked. 

 " ' The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I ; 
 'but the papers must be those that are destroyed.' 

 " ' Pooh ! said he, gripping hard at his courage. ' We are 
 in a civilized land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this 
 kind. Where does the thing come from ?' 

 " * From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the post-mark. 

 " * Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. ' What have 
 I to do with sundials and papers ? I shall take no notice of 
 such nonsense.' 

 " * I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. 

 " * And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' 

 " ' Then let me do so ?' 

 " ' No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such 
 nonsense.' 

 " It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very ob- 
 stinate man. I went about, however, with a heart which was 
 full of forebodings. 

 " On the third day after the coming of the letter my father 
 went from home to visit an old friend of his. Major Freebody, 
 who is in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. 
 I was glad that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was 
 farther from danger when he was away from home. In that, 
 however, I was in error. Upon the second day of his absence 
 I received a telegram from the Major, imploring me to come 
 at once. My father had fallen over one of the deep chalk- 
 pits which abound in the neighborhood, and was lying sense- 
 less, with a shattered skull. I hurried to him, but he passed 



 THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS II3 

 away without having ever recovered his consciousness. He 
 had, as it appears, been returning from Fareham in the twi- 
 light, and as the country was unknown to him, and the chalk- 
 pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in bringing in a ver- 
 dict of ' Death from accidental causes.' Carefully as I ex- 
 amined every fact connected with his death, I was unable to 
 find anything which could suggest the idea of murder. There 
 were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no robbery, no record 
 of strangers having been seen upon the roads. And yet I 
 need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, and that 
 I was wellnigh certain that some foul plot had been woven 
 round him. 

 " In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will 
 ask me why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was 
 well convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent 
 upon an incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would 
 be as pressing in one house as in another. 

 " It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, 
 and two years and eight months have elapsed since then. 
 During that time I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had 
 begun to hope that this curse had passed away from the family, 
 and that it had ended with the last generation. I had begun 
 to take comfort too soon, however; yesterday morning the 
 blow fell in the very shape in which it had come upon my 
 father." 

 The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled en- 
 velope, and, turning to the table, he shook out upon it five 
 little dried orange pips. 

 "This is the envelope," he continued. "The post-mark is 
 London — eastern division. Within are the very words which 
 were upon my father's last message : ' K. K. K.' ; and then 
 ' Put the papers on the sundial' " 

 " What have you done ?" asked Holmes. 

 " Nothing." 

 " Nothing ?" 

 "To tell the truth" — he sank his face into his thin, white 



 114 ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES 

 hands^" I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those 
 poor rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem 
 to be in the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which 
 no foresight and no precautions can guard against." 

 "Tut ! tut !" cried Sherlock Holmes. " You must act, man, 
 or you are lost. Nothing but energy can save you. This is 
 no time for despair." 

 " I have seen the police." 

 "Ah!" 

 " But they listened to my story with a smile. I am con- 
 vinced that the inspector has formed the opinion that the 
 letters are all practical jokes, and that the deaths of my re- 
 lations were really accidents, as the jury stated, and were not 
 to be connected with the warnings." 

 Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. " Incredible 
 imbecility !" he cried. 

 "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may 
 remain in the house with me." 

 " Has he come with you to-night ?" 
 ' " No. His orders were to stay in the house." 

 Again Holmes raved in the air. 

 " Why did you come to me ?" he said ; " and, above all, 
 why did you not come at once ?" 

 " I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major 
 Prendergast about my troubles, and was advised by him to 
 come to you." 

 " It is' really two days since you had the letter. We should 
 have acted before this. You have no further evidence, I sup- 
 pose, than that which you have placed before us — no sug- 
 gestive detail which might help us ?" 

 " There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged 
 in his coat pocket, and drawing out a piece of discolored, 
 blue-tinted paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have 
 some remembrance," said he, " that on the day when my uncle 
 burned the papers I observed that the small, unburned mar- 
 gins which lay amid the ashes were of this particular color. 



 THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS 1 15 

 I found this single sheet upon the floor of his room, and I am 
 inclined to think that it may be one of the papers which has, 
 perhaps, fluttered out from among the others, and in that way 
 have escaped destruction. Beyond the mention of pips, I do 
 not see that it helps us much. I think myself that it is a 
 page from some private diary. The writing is undoubtedly 
 my uncle's." 

 Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet 
 of paper, which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed 
 been torn from a book. It was headed, " March, 1869," and 
 beneath were the following enigmatical notices : 

 " 4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. 

 "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and John 
 Swain, of St. Augustine. 

 " 9th. McCauley cleared. 

 "loth. John Swain cleared. 

 "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." 

 " Thank you !" said Holmes, folding up the paper, and re- 
 turning it to our visitor. " And now you must on no account 
 lose another instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss 
 what you have told me. You must get home instantly and 
 act." 

 "What shall I do?" 

 " There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. 
 You must put this piece of paper which you have shown us 
 into the brass box which you have described. You must also 
 put in a note to say that all the other papers were burned by 
 your uncle, and that this is the only one which remains. You 
 must assert that in such words as will carry conviction with 
 them. Having done this, you must at once put the box out 
 upon the sundial, as directed. Do you understand ?" 

 " Entirely." 

 " Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at pres- 
 ent. I think that we may gain that by means of the law ; but 
 we have our web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The 
 first consideration is to remove the pressing danger which 



 Il6 ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES 

 threatens you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to 
 punish the guilty parties." 

 " I thank you," said the young man, rising, and pulling on 
 his overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I 
 shall certainly do as you advise." 

 " Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of your- 
 self in the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a 
 doubt that you are threatened by a very real and imminent 
 danger. How do you go back ?" 

 " By train from Waterloo." 

 " It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust 
 that you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard your- 
 self too closely." 

 " I am armed." 
 . " That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your 
 case." 

 " I shall see you at Horsham, then ?" 

 " No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall 
 seek it." 

 " Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with 
 news as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice 
 in every particular." He shook hands with us, and took his 
 leave. Outside the wind still screamed, and the rain splashed 
 and pattered against the windows. This strange, wild story 
 seemed to have come to us from amid the mad elements — 
 blown in upon us like a sheet of sea-weed in a gale — and now 
 to have been reabsorbed by them once more. 

 Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head 
 sunk forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. 
 Then he lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched 
 the blue smoke -rings as they chased each other up to the 
 ceiling. 

 " I think, Watson," he remarked at last, " that of all our 
 cases we have had none more fantastic than this." 

 " Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." 

 " Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Open- 



 THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS II7 

 shaw seems to me to be walking amid even greater perils than 
 did the Sholtos." 

 " But have you," I asked, " formed any definite conception 
 as to what these perils are ?" 

 " There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. 

 " Then what are they ? Who is this K. K. K., and why 
 does he pursue this unhappy family ?" 

 Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows 
 upon the arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. 
 " The ideal reasoner," he remarked, " would, when he had 
 once been shown a single fact in all its bearings, deduce 
 from it not only all the chain of events which led up to it, but 
 also all the results which would follow from it. As Cuvier 
 could correctly describe a whole animal by the contemplation 
 of a single bone, so the observer who has thoroughly under- 
 stood one link in a series of incidents, should be able to ac- 
 curately state all the other ones, both before and after. We 
 have not yet grasped the results which the reason alone can 
 attain to. Problems may be solved in the study which have 
 baffled all those who have sought a solution by the aid of 
 their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest pitch, 
 it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to utilize all 
 the facts which have come to his knowledge ; and this in itself 
 implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all knowledge, 
 which, evetv in these days of free education and encyclopaedias, 
 is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so impossible, 
 however, that a man should possess all knowledge which is 
 likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have endeav- 
 ored in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one 
 occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits 
 in a very precise fashion." 

 " Yes," I answered, laughing. " It was a singular docu- 
 ment. Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at 
 zero, I remember. Botany variable, geology profound as re- 
 gards the mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of 
 town, chemistry eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational 



 Il8 ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES 

 literature and crime records unique, violin -player, boxer, 
 swordsman, lawyer, and self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. 
 Those, I think, were the main points of my analysis." 

 Holmes grinned at the last item. " Well," he said, " I say 
 now, as I said then, that a man should keep his little brain- 
 attic stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and 
 the rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, 
 where he can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as 
 the one which has been submitted to us to-night, we need cer- 
 tainly to muster all our resources. Kindly hand me down the 
 letter K of the American Encyclopaedia which stands upon 
 the shelf beside you. Thank you. Now let us consider the 
 situation, and see what may be deduced from it. In the first 
 place, we may start with a strong presumption that Colonel 
 Openshaw had some very strong reason for leaving America. 
 Men at his time of life do not change all their habits, and ex- 
 change willingly the charming climate of Florida for the lonely 
 life of an English provincial town. His extreme love of soli- 
 tude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of some 
 one or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis 
 that it was fear of some one or something which drove him 
 from America. As to what it was he feared, we can only de- 
 duce that by considering the formidable letters which were 
 received by himself and his successors. Did you remark the 
 post-marks of those letters ?" 

 " The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, 
 and the third from London." 

 " From East London. What do you deduce from that ?" 

 " They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of 
 a ship." 

 "Excellent. We have already a clew. There can be no 
 doubt that the probability — the strong probability — is that the 
 writer was on board of a ship. And now let us consider an- 
 other point. In the case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed 
 between the threat and its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only 
 some three or four days. Does that suggest anything .?" 



 THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS II9 

 " A greater distance to travel." 

 " But the letter had also a greater distance to come." 

 " Then I do not see the point." 

 " There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which 
 the man or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they al- 
 ways sent their singular warning or token before them when 
 starting upon their mission. You see how quickly the deed 
 followed the sign when it came from Dundee. If they had 
 come from Pondicherry in a steamer they would have arrived 
 almost as soon as their letter. But as a matter of fact seven 
 weeks elapsed. I think that those seven weeks represented 
 the difference between the mail-boat which brought the letter, 
 and the sailing-vessel which brought the writer." 

 " It is possible." 

 " More than that. It is probable. And now you see the 
 deadly urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Open- 
 shaw to caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of 
 the time which it would take the senders to travel the distance. 
 But this one comes from London, and therefore we cannot 
 count upon delay." 

 " Good God !" I cried ; " what can it mean, this relentless 
 persecution ?" 

 " The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital 
 importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I 
 think that it is quite clear that there must be more than one 
 of them. A single man could not have carried out two deaths 
 in such a way as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must 
 have been several in it, and they must have been men of re- 
 source and determination. Their papers they mean to have, 
 be the holder of them who it may. In this way you see K. 
 K. K. ceases to be the initials of an individual, and becomes 
 the badge of a society." 

 " But of what society ?" 

 " Have you never — " said Sherlock Holmes, bending for- 
 ward and sinking his voice — "have you never heard of the 
 KuKluxKlan?" 



 |20 ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES 

 " I never have.'' 

 Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. 
 " Here it is," said he, presently, " * Ku Klux Klan. A name 
 derived from the fanciful resemblance to the sound produced 
 by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret society was formed by 
 some ex-Confederate soldiers in the Southern States after the 
 Civil War, and it rapidly formed local branches in different 
 parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, Louisiana, the 
 Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was used "for po- 
 litical purposes, principally for the terrorizing of the negro 
 voters, and the murdering and driving from the country of 
 those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usu- 
 ally preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some 
 fantastic but generally recognized shape — a sprig of oak-leaves 
 in some parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On re- 
 ceiving this the victim might either openly abjure his former 
 ways, or might fly from the country. If he braved the matter 
 out, death would unfailingly come upon him, and usually in 
 some strange and unforeseen manner. So perfect was the or- 
 ganization of the society, and so systematic its methods, that 
 there is hardly a case upon record where any man succeeded 
 in braving it with impunity, or in which any of its outrages 
 were traced home to the perpetrators. For some years 
 the organization flourished, in spite of the efforts of the 
 United States Government and of the better classes of the 
 community in the South. Eventually, in the year 1869, 
 the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there 
 have been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that 
 date.' 

 " You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, 
 " that the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident 
 with the disappearance of Openshaw from America with their 
 papers. It may well have been cause and effect. It is no 
 wonder that he and his family have some of the more impla- 
 cable spirits upon their track. You can understand that this 
 register and diary may implicate some of the first men in the 



 THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS 121 

 South, and that there may be many who will not sleep easy at 
 night until it is recovered." 

 "Then the page we have seen — " 

 " Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 
 'sent the pips to A, B, and C,' — that is, sent the society's 
 warning to them. Then there are successive entries that A 
 and B cleared, or left the country, and finally that C was vis- 
 ited, with, I fear, a sinister result for C. Well, I think. Doc- 
 tor, that we may let some light into this dark place, and I 
 believe that the only chance young Openshaw has in the 
 mean time is to do what I have told him. There is nothing 
 more to be said or to be done to-night, so hand me over my 
 violin, and let us try to forget for half an hour the miserable 
 weather and the still more miserable ways of our fellow- 
 men." 

 It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining 
 with a subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs 
 over the great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at break- 
 fast when I came down. 

 " You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he ; "I 
 have, I foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this 
 case of young Openshaw's." 

 " What steps will you take ?" I asked. 

 " It will very much depend upon the results of my first in- 
 quiries. I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." 

 " You will not go there first ?" 

 " No, I shall commence with the city. Just ring the bell, 
 and the maid will bring up your coffee." 

 As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table 
 and glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which 
 sent a chill to my heart. 

 "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." 

 " Ah !" said he, laying down his cup, " I feared as much. 
 How was it done ?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that 
 he was deeply moved. 



 122 ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES 

 " My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading, 
 * Tragedy near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: 'Be- 
 tween nine and ten last night Police-constable Cook, of the H 
 Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help 
 and a splash in the water. The night, however, was extreme- 
 ly dark and stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several 
 passers-by, it was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The 
 alarm, however, was given, and, by the aid of the water-police, 
 the body was eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a 
 young gentleman whose name, as it appears from an envelope 
 which was found in his pocket, was John Openshaw, and 
 whose residence is near Horsham. It is conjectured that he 
 may have been hurrying down to catch the last train from 
 Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and the extreme dark- 
 ness he missed his path and walked over the edge of one of 
 the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body ex- 
 hibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that 
 the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, 
 which should have the effect of calling the attention of the 
 authorities to the condition of the river -side landing- 
 stages.' " 

 We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed 
 and shaken than I had ever seen him. 

 " That hurts my pride, Watson," he said, at last. " It is a 
 petty feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a 
 personal matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I 
 shall set my hand upon this gang. That he should come 
 to me for help, and that I should send him away to his 
 death—!" He sprang from his chair and paced about the 
 room in uncontrollable agitation, with a flush upon his sallow 
 cheeks, and a nervous clasping and unclasping of his long, 
 thin hands. 

 "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed, at last 
 " How could they have decoyed him down there ? The Em- 
 bankment is not on the direct line to the station. The bridge, 
 no doubt, was too crowded, even on such a night, for their 



 THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS I23 

 purpose. Well, Watson, we shall see who will win in the 
 long run. I am going out now !" 

 "To the police?" 

 " No ; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the 
 web they may take the flies, but not before." 

 All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was 
 late in the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sher- 
 lock Holmes had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock 
 before he entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to 
 the sideboard, and, tearing a piece from the loaf, he devoured 
 it voraciously, washing it down with a long draught of water. 

 "You are hungry," I remarked. 

 " Starving. It had escaped my mernory. I have had noth- 
 ing since breakfast." 

 " Nothing ?" 

 " Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." 

 " And how have you succeeded .?" 

 " Well." 

 " You have a clew ?" 

 " I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw 
 shall not long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put 
 their own devilish trade-mark upon them. It is well thought 
 of!" 

 " What do you mean ?" 

 He took an orange from' the cupboard, and, tearing it to 
 pieces, he squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he 
 took five, and thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of 
 the flap he wrote " S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and 
 addressed it to " Captain James Calhoun, Bark Lone Star, Sa- 
 vannah, Georgia." 

 " That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuck- 
 ling. " It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as 
 sure a precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." 

 " And who is this Captain Calhoun .?" 

 " The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he 
 first." 



 124 ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES 

 " How did you trace it, then ?" 

 He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered 
 with dates and names. 

 " I have spent the whole day," said he, " over Lloyd's reg- 
 isters and the files of the old papers, following the future ca- 
 reer of every vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January 
 and February in ^S^. There were thirty-six ships of fair ton- 
 nage which were reported there during those months. Of 
 these, one, the Zone Star^ instantly attracted my attention, 
 since, although it was reported as having cleared from Lon- 
 don, the name is that which is given to one of the States of 
 the Union." 

 "Texas, I think." 

 " I was not and am not sure which ; but I knew that the 
 ship must have an American origin." 

 "What then?" 

 " I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the 
 bark Lone Star was there in January, '85, my suspicion became 
 a certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at 
 present in the port of London." 

 "Yes?" 

 " The Lone Star had arrived here last week. I went down 
 to the Albert Dock, and found that she had been taken down 
 the river by the early tide this morning, homeward bound to 
 Savannah. I wired to Gravesend, and learned that she had 
 passed some time ago ; and as the wind is easterly, I have no 
 doubt that she is now past the Goodwins, and not very far 
 from the Isle of Wight." 

 " What will you do, then ?" 

 " Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, 
 are, as I learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. 
 The others are Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they 
 were all three away from the ship last night. I had it from 
 the stevedore who has been loading their cargo. By the time 
 that their sailing-ship reaches Savannah the mail-boat will 
 have carried this letter, and the cable will have informed the 



 THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS 12$ 

 police of Savannah that these three gentlemen are badly want- 
 ed here upon a charge of murder." 

 There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human 
 plans, and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to re- 
 ceive the orange pips which would show them that another, as 
 cunning and as resolute as themselves, was upon their track. 
 Very long and very severe were the equinoctial gales that 
 year. We waited long for news of the Lone Star of Savan- 
 nah, but none ever reached us. We did at last hear that 
 somewhere far out in the Atlantic a shattered stern-post of a 
 boat was seen swinging in the trough of a wave, with the let- 
 ters " L. S. " carved upon it, and that is all which we shall 
 ever know of the fate of the Lone Star, 




 Bdventure IDf 

 THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP 

 ISA WHITNEY, brother of the late Elias Whit- 
 ney, D.D., Principal of the Theological College 
 of St. George's, was much addicted to opium. 
 The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from 
 some foolish freak when he was at college ; for having read 
 De Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he 
 had drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to 
 produce the same effects. He found, as so many more have 
 done, that the practice is easier to attain than to get. rid of, 
 and for many years he continued to be a slave to the drug, 
 an object of mingled horror and pity to his friends and rela- 
 tives. I can see him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping 
 lids, and pin-point pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck 
 and ruin of a noble man. 

 One night — it was in June, '89 — there came a ring to my 
 bell, about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and 
 glances at the clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid 
 her needle-work down in her lap and made a little face of dis- 
 appointment. 

 " A patient !" said she. "You'll have to go out." 

 I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. 

 We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then 
 quick steps upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and 
 a lady, clad in some dark-colored stuff, with a black veil, en- 
 tered the room. 

 " You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, 
 suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her 



 THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP 12/ 

 arms about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. 
 " Oh, I'm in such trouble !" she cried ; " I do so want a little 
 help." 

 "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whit- 
 ney. How you startled me, Kate ! I had not an idea who 
 you were when you came in." 

 "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." 
 That was always the way. Folk who were in grief came to 
 my wife like birds to a light-house. 

 " It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have 
 some wine and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all 
 about it. Or should you rather that I sent James oif to bed ?" 

 "Oh, no, no! I want the Doctor's advice and help, too. 
 It's about Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am 
 so frightened about him !" 

 It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her 
 husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old 
 friend and school companion. We soothed and comforted 
 her by such words as we could find. Did she know where 
 her husband was ? Was it possible that we could bring him 
 back to her } 

 It seemed that it was. She had the surest information that 
 of late he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium 
 den in the farthest east of the city. Hitherto his orgies had 
 always been confined to one day, and he had come back, 
 twitching and shattered, in the evening. But now the spell 
 had been upon him eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, 
 doubtless among the dregs of the docks, breathing in the 
 poison or sleeping off the effects. There he was to be found, 
 she was sure of it, at the " Bar of Gold," in Upper Swandam 
 Lane. But what was she to do ? How could she, a young 
 and timid woman, make her way into such a place, and pluck 
 her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded 
 him? 

 There was the case, and of course there was but one way 
 out of it. Might I not escort her to this place ? And then, 



 128 ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES 

 as a second thought, why should she come at all ? I was Isa 
 Whitney's medical adviser, and as such I had influence over 
 him. I could manage it better if I were alone. I promised 
 her on my word that I would send him home in a cab within 
 two hours if he were indeed at the address which she had 
 given me. And so in ten minutes I had left my arm-chair 
 and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding east- 
 ward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at 
 the time, though the future only could show how strange it 
 was to be. 

 But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my 
 adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking be- 
 hind the high wharves which line the north side of the river 
 to the east of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a 
 gin-shop, approached by a steep flight of steps leading down 
 to a black gap like the mouth of a cave, I found the den of 
 which I was in search. Ordering my cab to wait, I passed 
 down the steps, worn hollow in the centre by the ceaseless 
 tread of drunken feet, and by the light of a flickering oil-lamp 
 above the door I found the latch, and made my way into a 
 long, low room, thick and heavy with the brown opium smoke, 
 and terraced with wooden berths, like the forecastle of an 
 emigrant ship. 

 Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of 
 bodies lying in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent 
 knees, heads thrown back and chins pointing upward, with 
 here and there a dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the new- 
 comer. Out of the black shadows there glimmered little red 
 circles of light, now bright, now faint, as the burning poison 
 waxed or waned in the bowls of the metal pipes. The most 
 lay silent, but some muttered to themselves, and others talked 
 together in a strange, low, monotonous voice, their conversa- 
 tion coming in gushes, and then suddenly tailing off into si- 
 lence, each mumbUng out his own thoughts, and paying little 
 heed to the words of his neighbor. At the farther end was a 
 small brazier of burning charcoal, beside which on a three- 



 THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP I29 

 legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old man, with his 
 jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon his knees, 
 staring into the fire. 

 As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with 
 a pipe for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an 
 empty berth. 

 " Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. " There 
 is a friend of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak 
 with him." 

 There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, 
 and, peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, hag- 
 gard, and unkempt, staring out at me. 

 " My God ! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable 
 state of reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. " I say, Wat- 
 son, what o'clock is it ?" 

 "Nearly eleven." 

 " Of what day ?" 

 "Of Friday, June 19th." 

 " Good heavens ! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wed- 
 nesday. What d'you want to frighten a chap for .?" He sank 
 his face onto his arms, and began to sob in a high treble key. 

 " I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been 
 waiting this two days for you. You should be ashamed of 
 yourself!" 

 " So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only 
 been here a few hours, three pipes, four pipes — I forget how 
 many. But I'll go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate 
 — poor little Kate. Give me your hand ! Have you a cab ?" 

 " Yes, I have one waiting." 

 " Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find 
 what I owe, Watson. I am all off color. I can do nothing 
 for myself." 

 I walked down the narrow passage between the double row 
 of sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying 
 fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I 
 passed the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden 



 130 ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES 

 pluck at my skirt, and a low voice whispered, " Walk past me, 
 and then look back at me." The words fell quite distinctly 
 upon my ear. I glanced down. They could only have come 
 from the old man at my side, and yet he sat now as absorbed 
 as ever, very thin, very wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe 
 dangling down from between his knees, as though it had 
 dropped in sheer lassitude from his fingers. I took two steps 
 forward and looked back. It took all my self-control to pre- 
 vent me from breaking out into a cry of astonishment. He 
 had turned his back so that none could see him but I. His 
 form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull eyes had 
 regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire, and grinning 
 at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He 
 made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, 
 as he turned his face half round to the company once more, 
 subsided into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. 

 " Holmes !" I whispered, " what on earth are you doing in 
 this den ?" 

 "As low as you can," he answered; " I have excellent ears. 
 If you would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish 
 friend of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little 
 talk with you." 

 " I have a cab outside." 

 "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust 
 him, for he appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. 
 I should recommend you also to send a note by the cabman 
 to your wife to say that you have thrown in your lot with me. 
 If you will wait outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." 

 It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes's requests, 
 for they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward 
 with such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when 
 Whitney was once confined in the cab my mission was practi- 
 cally accomplished , and for the rest, I could not wish any- 
 thing better than to be associated with my friend in one of 
 those singular adventures which were the normal condition of 
 his existence. In a few minutes I had written my note, paid 



 THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP I3I 

 Whitney's bill, led him out to the cab, and seen him driven 
 through the darkness. In a very short time a decrepit figure 
 had emerged from the opium den, and I was walking down 
 the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two streets he shuffled 
 along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. Then, glancing 
 quickly round, he straightened himself out and burst into a 
 hearty fit of laughter. 

 " I suppose, Watson," said he, " that you imagine that I 
 have added opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the 
 other little weaknesses on which you have favored me with 
 your medical views." 

 " I was certainly surprised to find you there." 

 " But not more so than I to find you." 

 " I came to find a friend." 

 " And I to find an enemy." 

 " An enemy ?" 

 " Yes ; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my nat- 
 ural prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very re- 
 markable inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clew in the in- 
 coherent ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. 
 Had I been recognized in that den my life would not have 
 been worth an hour's purchase ; for I have used it before now 
 for my own purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has 
 sworn to have vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at 
 the back of that building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, 
 which could tell some strange tales of what has passed through 
 it upon the moonless nights." 

 " What ! You do not mean bodies ?" 

 " Aye, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 
 ;^iooo for every poor devil who has been done to death in 
 that den. It is the vilest murder-trap on the whole river-side, 
 and I fear that Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave 
 it more. But our trap should be here." He put his two fore- 
 fingers between his teeth and whistled shrilly — a signal which 
 was answered by a similar whistle from the distance, followed 
 shortly by the rattle of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. 



 132 ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES 

 " Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up 
 through the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow 
 light from its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't 
 you ?" 

 " If I can be of use." 

 " Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use ; and a chronicler 
 still more so. My room at * The Cedars ' is a double-bedded 
 one." 

 "'The Cedars?'" 

 " Yes ; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there 
 while I conduct the inquiry." 

 " Where is it, then .?" 

 " Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before 
 us." 

 " But I am all in the dark." 

 " Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. 
 Jump up here. All right, John ; we shall not need you- 
 Here's half a crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about 
 eleven. Give her her head. So long, then !" 

 He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away 
 through the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, 
 which widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad 
 balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly 
 beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks 
 and mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular foot- 
 fall of the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated 
 party of revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across 
 the sky, and a star or two twinkled dimly here and there 
 through the rifts of the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, 
 with his head sunk upon his breast, and the air of a man who 
 is lost in thought, while I sat beside him, curious to learn 
 what this new quest might be which seemed to tax his powers 
 so sorely, and yet afraid to break in upon the current of his 
 thoughts. We had driven several miles, and were beginning 
 to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban villas, when he 
 shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up his pipe 



 THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP 13^ 

 with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he is act- 
 ing for the best. 

 " You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. " It 
 makes you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, 
 it is a great thing for me to have some one to talk to, for my 
 own thoughts are not over pleasant. I was wondering what I 
 should say to this dear little woman to-night when she meets 
 me at the door." 

 " You forget that I know nothing about it." 

 " I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case be- 
 fore we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, some- 
 how, I can get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, 
 no doubt, but I can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, 
 I'll state the case clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and 
 maybe you can see a spark where all is dark to me." 

 " Proceed, then." 

 " Some years ago — to be definite, in May, 1884 — there came 
 to Lee a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared 
 to have plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the 
 grounds very nicely, and lived generally in good style. By 
 degrees he made friends in the neighborhood, and in 1887 he 
 married the daughter of a local brewer, by whom he now has 
 two children. He had no occupation, but was interested in 
 several companies, and went into town as a rule in the morn- 
 ing, returning by the 5.14 from Cannon Street every night. 
 Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of age, is a man of 
 temperate habits, a good husband, a very affectionate father, 
 and a man who is popular with all who know him. I may 
 add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far as we 
 have been able to ascertain, amount to ;^88 10s., while he 
 has ;£"2 2o standing to his credit in the Capital and Counties 
 Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money 
 troubles have been weighing upon his mind. 

 " Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather 
 earlier than usual, remarking before he started that he had 
 two important commissions to perform, and that he would 



 134 ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES 

 bring his little boy home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest 
 chance, his wife received a telegram upon this same Monday, 
 very shortly after his departure, to the effect that a small par- 
 cel of considerable value which she had been expecting was 
 waiting for her at the offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Com- 
 pany. Now, if you are well up in your London, you will 
 know that the offices of the company is in Fresno Street, 
 which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where you 
 found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for 
 the city, did some shopping, proceeded to the company's of- 
 fice, got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4.35 walking 
 through Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. 
 Have you followed me so far } " 

 " It is very clear." 

 " If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, 
 and Mrs. St. Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope 
 of seeing a cab, as she did not like the neighborhood in 
 which she found herself. While she was walking in this way 
 down Swandam Lane, she suddenly heard an ejaculation or 
 cry, and was struck cold to see her husband looking down at 
 her, and, as it seemed to her, beckoning to her from a second- 
 floor window. The window was open, and she distinctly saw 
 his face, which she describes as being terribly agitated. He 
 waved his hands frantically to her, and then vanished from 
 the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that he had 
 been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. 
 One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was 
 that, although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started 
 to town in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. 

 " Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed 
 down the steps — for the house was none other than the opium 
 den in which you found me to-night — and, running through 
 the front room, she attempted to ascend the stairs which led 
 to the first floor. At the foot of the stairs, however, she met 
 this Lascar scoundrel of whom I have spoken, who thrust her 
 back, and, aided by a Dane, who acts as assistant there. 




 "at the foot of the stairs she met this LASCAR SCOUNDREL' 



 THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP I35 

 pushed her out into the street. Filled with the most mad- 
 dening doubts and fears, she rushed down the lane, and, by 
 rare good-fortune, met, in Fresno Street, a number of consta- 
 bles with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The 
 inspector and two men accompanied her back, and, in spite of 
 the continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their 
 way to the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. 
 There was no sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that 
 floor there was no one to be found, save a crippled wretch of 
 hideous aspect, who, it seems, made his home there. Both he 
 and the Lascar stoutly swore that no one else had been in the 
 front room during the afternoon. So determined was their 
 denial that the inspector was staggered, and had almost come 
 to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had been deluded, when, with a 
 cry, she sprang at a small deal box which lay upon the table, 
 and tore the lid from it. Out there fell a cascade of chil- 
 dren's bricks. It was the toy which he had promised to 
 bring home. 

 "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the crip- 
 ple showed, made the inspector realize that the matter was 
 serious. The rooms were carefully examined, and results all 
 pointed to an abominable crime. The front room was plainly 
 furnished as a sitting-room, and led into a small bedroom, 
 which looked out upon the back of one of the wharves. Be- 
 tween the wharf and the bedroom window is a narrow strip, 
 which is dry at low tide, but is covered at high tide with at 
 least four and a half feet of water. The bedroom window was 
 a broad one, and opened from below. On examination traces 
 of blood were to be seen upon the window-sill, and several 
 scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of the bed- 
 room. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were 
 all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of 
 his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch — all 
 were there. There were no signs of violence upon any of 
 these garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville 
 St. Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone, 



 136 ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES 

 for no other exit could be discovered, and the ominous blood- 
 stains upon the sill gave little promise that he could save him- 
 self by swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the 
 moment of the tragedy. 

 "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately 
 implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a 
 man of the vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's sto- 
 ry, he was known to have been at the foot of the stair within 
 a very few seconds of her husband's appearance at the win- 
 dow, he could hardly have been more than an accessory to 
 the crime. His defense was one of absolute ignorance, and 
 he protested that he had no knowledge as to the doings of 
 Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he could not account in any 
 way for the presence of the missing gentleman's clothes. 

 "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister 
 cripple who lives upon the second floor of the opium den, 
 and who was certainly the last human being whose eyes rested 
 upon Neville St. Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his 
 hideous face is one which is familiar to every man who goes 
 much to the city. He is a professional beggar, though, in 
 order to avoid the police regulations, he pretends to a small 
 trade in wax vestas. Some little distance down Threadneedle 
 Street, upon the left-hand side, there is, as you may have re- 
 marked, a small angle in the wall. Here it is that this creat- 
 ure takes his daily seat, cross-legged, with his tiny stock of 
 matches on his lap, and, as he is a piteous spectacle, a small 
 rain of charity descends into the greasy leather cap which lies 
 upon the pavement beside him. 1 have watched the fellow 
 more than once, before ever I thought of making his profes- 
 sional acquaintance, and I have been surprised at the harvest 
 which he has reaped in a short time. His appearance, you 
 see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him without ob- 
 serving him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face disfigured 
 by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has turned up 
 the outer edge of his upper lip, a bull-dog chin, and a pair of 
 very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular contrast 



 THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP I37 

 to the color of his hair, all mark him out from amid the com- 
 mon crowd of mendicants, and so, too, does his wit, for he is 
 ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be 
 thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we 
 now learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to 
 have been the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are 
 in quest." 

 " But a cripple !" said I. " What could he have done 
 single-handed against a man in the prime of life ?" 

 " He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp ; 
 but in other respects he appears to be a powerful and well- 
 nurtured man. Surely your medical experience would tell 
 you, Watson, that weakness in one limb is often compensated 
 for by exceptional strength in the others." 

 " Pray continue your narrative." 

 " Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon 
 the window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the po- 
 lice, as her presence could be of no help to them in their in- 
 vestigations. Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, 
 made a very careful examination of the premises, but without 
 finding anything which threw any light upon the matter. One 
 mistake had been made in not arresting Boone instantly, as 
 he was allowed some few minutes during which he might have 
 communicated with his friend the Lascar, but this fault was 
 soon remedied, and he was seized and searched, without any- 
 thing being found which could incriminate him. There were, 
 it is true, some blood-stains upon his right shirt-sleeve, but he 
 pointed to his ring-finger, which had been cut near the nail, 
 and explained that the bleeding came from there, adding that 
 he had been to the window not long before, and that the stains 
 which had been observed there came doubtless from the same 
 source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. Neville 
 St. Clair, and swore that the presence of the clothes in his 
 room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to 
 Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her hus- 
 band at the window, he declared that she must have been either 



 138 ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES 

 mad or dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the 
 police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises 
 in the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clew. 

 " And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank 
 what they had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, 
 and not Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide re- 
 ceded. And what do you think they found in the pockets ?" 

 " I cannot imagine." 

 " No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed 
 with pennies and half- pennies — 421 pennies and 270 half- 
 pennies. It was no wonder that it had not been swept away 
 by the tide. But a human body is a different matter. There 
 is a fierce eddy between the wharf and the house. It seemed 
 likely enough that the weighted coat had remained when the 
 stripped body had been sucked away into the river." 

 " But I understand that all the other clothes were found in 
 the room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone ?" 

 " No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. 
 Suppose that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair 
 through the window, there is no human eye which could have 
 seen the deed. What would he do then } It would of course 
 instantly strike him that he must get rid of the tell-tale gar- 
 ments. He would seize the coat, then, and be in the act of 
 throwing it out, when it would occur to him that it would swim 
 and not sink. He has little time, for he has heard the scuffle 
 down-stairs when the wife tried to force her way up, and per- 
 haps he has already heard from his Lascar confederate that 
 the police are hurrying up the street. There is not an instant 
 to be lost. He rushes to some secret horde, where he has 
 accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he stuffs all the 
 coins upon which he can lay his hands into the pockets to 
 make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and would 
 have done the same with the other garments had not he heard 
 the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the 
 window when the police appeared." 

 " It certainly sounds feasible." 



 THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP I39 

 " Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want 
 of a better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and 
 taken to the station, but it could not be shown that there had 
 ever before been anything against him. He had for years 
 been known as a professional beggar, but his life appeared to 
 have been a very quiet and innocent one. There the matter 
 stands at present, and the questions which have to be solved — 
 what Neville St. Clair was doing in the opium den, what hap- 
 pened to him when there, where is he now, and what Hugh 
 Boone had to do with his disappearance — are all as far from 
 a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot recall any case 
 within my experience which looked at the first glance so 
 simple, and yet which presented such difficulties." 

 While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular 
 series of events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of 
 the great town until the last straggling houses had been left 
 behind, and we rattled along with a country hedge upon 
 either side of us. Just as he finished, however, we drove 
 through two scattered villages, where a few lights still glim- 
 mered in the windows. 

 " We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. 
 " We have touched on three English counties in our short 
 drive, starting in Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, 
 and ending in Kent. See that light among the trees ? That 
 is ' The Cedars,' and beside that lamp sits a woman whose 
 anxious ears have already, I have little doubt, caught the clink 
 of our horse's feet." 

 " But why are you not conducting the case from Baker 
 Street ?" I asked. 

 " Because there are many inquiries which must be made 
 out here. Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at 
 my disposal, and you may rest assured that she will have 
 nothing but a welcome for my friend and colleague. I hate 
 to meet her, Watson, when I have no news of her husband. 
 Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa !" 

 We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood with- 



 I40 ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES 

 in its own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's 
 head, and, springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, 
 winding gravel-drive which led to the house. As we ap- 
 proached, the door flew open, and a little blonde woman stood 
 in the opening, clad in some sort of light mousseline de sole, 
 with a touch of fluffy pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. 
 She stood with her figure outlined against the flood of 
 light, one hand upon the door, one half - raised in her 
 eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head and face pro- 
 truded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing ques- 
 tion. 

 " Well ?" she cried, " well .?" And then, seeing that there 
 were two of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a 
 groan as she saw that my companion shook his head and 
 shrugged his shoulders. 

 " No good news ?" 

 " None." 

 "No bad?" 

 "No." 

 " Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, 
 for you have had a long day." 

 " This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most 
 vital use to me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance 
 has made it possible for me to bring him out and associate 
 him with this investigation." 

 " I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand 
 warmly. " You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be 
 wanting in our arrangements, when you consider the blow 
 which has come so suddenly upon us." 

 " My dear madam," said, I " I am an old campaigner, and 
 if I were not, I can very well see that no apology is needed. 
 If I can be of any assistance, either to you or to my friend 
 here, I shall be indeed happy." 

 " Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady, as we entered 
 a well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper 
 had been laid out, " I should very much like to ask you one 



 THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP I4I 

 or two plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a 
 plain answer." 

 " Certainly, madam." 

 " Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, 
 nor given to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real 
 opinion." 

 " Upon what point .''" 

 " In your heart of hearts do you think that Neville is alive ?" 

 Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the ques- 
 tion. " Frankly, now !" she repeated, standing upon the rug 
 and looking keenly down at him as he leaned back in a 
 basket-chair. 

 ** Frankly, then, madam, I do not." 

 " You think that he is dead ?" 

 " I do." 

 " Murdered ?" 

 " I don't say that. Perhaps." 

 *' And on what day did he meet his death .?" 

 " On Monday." 

 "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough 
 to explain how it is that I have received a letter from him 
 to-day." 

 Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been 
 galvanized. 

 " What !" he roared. 

 " Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip 
 of paper in the air. 

 " May I see it ?" 

 " Certainly." 

 He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it 
 out upon the table, he drew over the lamp, and examined it 
 intently. I had left my chair, and was gazing at it over his 
 shoulder. The envelope was a very coarse one, and wis 
 stamped with the Gravesend post-mark, and with the date of 
 that very day, or rather of the day before, for it was consider- 
 ably after midnight. 



 142 ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES 

 " Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. " Surely this is not 
 your husband's writing, madam." 

 " No, but the enclosure is." 

 " I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had 
 to go and inquire as to the address." 

 " How can you tell that .?" 

 " The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has 
 dried itself. The rest is of the grayish color, which shows that 
 blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight 
 off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. 
 This man has written the name, and there has then been a 
 pause before he wrote the address, which can only mean that 
 he was not familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there 
 is nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. 
 Ha ! there has been an enclosure here !" 

 " Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." 

 "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand ?" 

 " One of his hands." 

 " One ?" 

 " His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his 
 usual writing, and yet I know it well." 

 " ' Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There 
 is a huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. 
 Wait in patience. — Neville.' Written in pencil upon the fly- 
 leaf of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum ! Posted 
 to-day in Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! 
 And the flap has been gummed, if I am not very much 
 in error, by a person who had been chewing tobacco. 
 And you have no doubt that it is your husband's hand, 
 madam ?" 

 " None. Neville wrote those words." 

 " And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. 
 St. Clair, the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to 
 say that the danger is over." 

 " But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." 

 "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong 



 THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP 143 

 scent. The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been 
 taken from him." 

 " No, no ; it is, it is, it is his very own writing !" 

 " Very well. It may, however, have been written on Mon- 
 day, and only posted to-day." 

 "That is possible." 

 " If so, much may have happened between." 

 " Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know 
 that all is well with him. There is so keen a sympathy be- 
 tween us that I should know if evil came upon him. On the 
 very day that I saw him last he cut himself in the bedroom, 
 and yet I in the dining-room rushed up- stairs instantly with 
 the utmost certainty that something had happened. Do you 
 think that I would respond to such a trifle, and yet be igno- 
 rant of his death ?" 

 " I have seen too much not to know that the impression of 
 a woman may be more valuable than the conclusion of an an- 
 alytical reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very 
 strong piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if 
 your husband is alive, and able to write letters, why should he 
 remain away from you .-*" 

 " I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." 

 "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving 
 you ?" 

 "No." 

 " And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane ?" 

 " Very much so." 

 " Was the window open ?" 

 " Yes." 

 " Then he might have called to you ?" 

 " He might." 

 " He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry ?" 

 " Yes." 

 " A call for help, you thought ?" 

 " Yes. He waved his hands." 

 " But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment 



 144 ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES 

 at the unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up 
 his hands ?" 

 " It is possible." 

 " And you thought he was pulled back ?" 

 "He disappeared so suddenly." 

 " He might have leaped back. You did not see any one 
 else in the room .?" 

 " No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, 
 and the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs." 

 "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his 
 ordinary clothes on ?" 

 "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare 
 throat." 

 " Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane ?" 

 " Never." 

 " Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium ?" 

 " Never." 

 " Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points 
 about which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now 
 have a little supper and then retire, for we may have a very 
 busy day to-morrow." 

 A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been 
 placed at our disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, 
 for I was weary after my night of adventure. Sherlock 
 Holmes was a man, however, who, when he had an unsolved 
 problem upon his mind, would go for days, and even for a 
 week, without rest, turning it over, rearranging his facts, look- 
 ing at it from every point of view, until he had either fath- 
 omed it, or convinced himself that his data were insufficient. 
 It was soon evident to me that he was now preparing for an 
 all-night sitting. He took off his coat and waistcoat, put on 
 a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered about the 
 room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from the 
 sofa and arm-chairs. With these he constructed a sort of 
 Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, 
 with an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out 



 THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP I45 

 in front of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sit- 
 ting there, an old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed 
 vacantly upon the corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curl- 
 ing up from him, silent, motionless, with the light shining upon 
 his strong-set aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off 
 to sleep, and so he sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me 
 to wake up, and I found the summer sun shining into the 
 apartment. The pipe was still between his lips, the smoke 
 still curled upward, and the room was full of a dense tobacco 
 haze, but nothing remained of the heap of shag which I had 
 seen upon the previous night. 

 " Awake, Watson ?" he asked. 

 "Yes." 

 " Game for a morning drive ?" 

 " Certainly." 

 " Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the 
 stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He 
 chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he 
 seemed a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous 
 night. 

 As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder 
 that no one was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past 
 four. I had hardly finished when Holmes returned with the 
 news that the boy was putting in the horse. 

 " I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on 
 his boots. " I think, Watson, that you are now standing in 
 the presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I 
 deserve to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think 
 I have the key of the affair now." 

 " And where is it ?" I asked, smiling. 

 "In the bath-room," he answered. " Oh yes, I am not jok- 
 ing," he continued, seeing my look of incredulity. " I have 
 just been there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it 
 in this Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see 
 whether it will not fit the lock." 

 We made our way down-stairs as quietly as possible, and 



 146 ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES 

 out into the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our 
 horse and trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the 
 head. We both sprang in, and away we dashed down the 
 London Road. A few country carts were stirring, bearing in 
 vegetables to the metropolis, but the lines of villas on either 
 side were as silent and lifeless as some city in a dream. 

 " It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, 
 flicking the horse on into a gallop. " I confess that I have 
 been as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late 
 than never to learn it at all." 

 In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleep- 
 ily from their windows as we drove through the streets of the 
 Surrey side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we 
 crossed over the river, and dashing up Wellington Street 
 wheeled sharply to the right, and found ourselves in Bow 
 Street. Sherlock Holmes was well known to the Force, and 
 the two constables at the door saluted him. One of them 
 held the horse's head while the other led us in. 

 " Who is on duty ?" asked Holmes. 

 " Inspector Bradstreet, sir." 

 " Ah, Bradstreet, how are you ?" A tall, stout official had 
 come down the stone flagged passage, in a peaked cap and 
 frogged jacket. " I wish to have a quiet word with you, Brad- 
 street." 

 "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." 

 It was a small, office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the 
 table, and a telephone projecting from the wall. The inspect- 
 or sat down at his desk. 

 " What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes ?" 

 "I called about that beggarman, Boone — the one who was 
 charged with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. 
 Neville St. Clair, of Lee." 

 "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further in- 
 quiries." 

 " So I heard. You have him here .?" 

 " In the cells." 



 THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP I47 

 " Is he quiet ?" 

 " Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel."' 

 " Dirty ?" 

 " Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and 
 his face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case 
 has been settled, he will have a regular prison bath ; and I 
 think, if you saw him, you would agree with me that he need- 
 ed it." 

 " I should like to see him very much." 

 " Would you ? That is easily done. Come this way. You 
 can leave your bag." 

 " No, I think that I'll take it." 

 " Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us 
 down a passage, opened a barred door, passed down a wind- 
 ing stair, and brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a 
 line of doors on each side. 

 "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. " Here 
 it is !" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the 
 door and glanced through. 

 " He is asleep," said he. " You can see him very well." 

 We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay 
 with his face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slow- 
 ly and heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as 
 became his calling, with a colored shirt protruding through the 
 rent in his tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, 
 extremely dirty, but the grime which covered his face could 
 not conceal its repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an 
 old scar ran right across it from eye to chin, and by its con- 
 traction had turned up one side of the upper lip, so that 
 three teeth were exposed in a perpetual snarl. A shock of 
 very bright red hair grew low over his eyes and forehead. 

 " He's a beauty, isn't he ?" said the inspector. 

 " He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. " I had 
 an idea that he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the 
 tools with me." He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, 
 and took out, to my astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. 



 148 ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES 

 " He ! he ! You are a funny one," chuckled the in- 
 spector. 

 "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that 
 door very quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more re- 
 spectable figure." 

 "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He 
 doesn't look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he ?" He 
 slipped his key into the lock, and we very all quietly entered 
 the cell. The sleeper half turned, and then settled down once 
 more into a deep slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, 
 moistened his sponge, and then rubbed it twice vigorously 
 across and down the prisoner's face. 

 " Let me introduce you," he shouted, " to Mr. Neville St. 
 Clair, of Lee, in the county of Kent." 

 Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face 
 peeled off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone 
 was the coarse brown tint ! Gone, too, was the horrid scar 
 which had seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had 
 given the repulsive sneer to the face ! A twitch brought away 
 the tangled red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a 
 pale, sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth- 
 skinned, rubbing his eyes, and staring about him with sleepy 
 bewilderment. Then suddenly realizing the exposure, he broke 
 into a scream, and threw himself down with his face to the 
 pillow. 

 " Great heavens !" cried the inspector, " it is, indeed, the 
 missing man. I know him from the photograph." 

 The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who 
 abandons himself to his destiny. " Be it so," said he. " And 
 pray, what am I charged with ?" 

 " With making away with Mr. Neville St. Oh, come, 

 you can't be charged with that, unless they make a case of 
 attempted suicide of it," said the inspector, with a grin. 
 " Well, I have been twenty-seven years in the force, but this 
 really takes the cake." 

 " If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no 



 THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP I49 

 crime has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally 
 detained." 

 " No crime, but a very great error has been committed," 
 said Holmes. " You would have done better to have trusted 
 your wife." 

 " It was not the wife, it was the children," groaned the pris- 
 oner. " God help me, I would not have them ashamed of 
 their father. My God ! What an exposure ! What can I 
 do?" 

 Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and 
 patted him kindly on the shoulder. 

 " If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," 
 said he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the 
 other hand, if you convince the police authorities that there is 
 no possible case against you, I do not know that there is any 
 reason that the details should find their way into the papers. 
 Inspector Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon any- 
 thing which you might tell us, and submit it to the proper au- 
 thorities. The case would then never go into court at all." 

 "God bless you!" cried the prisoner, passionately. "I 
 would have endured imprisonment, aye, even execution, rather 
 than have left my miserable secret as a family blot to my chil- 
 dren." 

 "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My 
 father was a school-master in Chesterfield, where I received 
 an excellent education. I travelled in my youth, took to the 
 stage, and finally became a reporter on an evening paper in 
 London. One day my editor wished to have a series of arti- 
 cles upon begging in the metropolis, and I volunteered to 
 supply them. There was the point from which all my advent- 
 ures started. It was only by trying begging as an amateur 
 that I could get the facts upon which to base my articles. 
 When an actor I had, of course, learned all the secrets of 
 making up, and had been famous in the greenroom for my 
 skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted 
 my face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a 



 ISO ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES 

 good scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of 
 a small slip of flesh-colored plaster. Then with a red head of 
 hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the busi- 
 est part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller, but really as 
 a beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I re- 
 turned home in the evening I found, to my surprise, that I 
 had received no less than 26s. ^d. 

 " I v^^rote my articles, and thought little more of the matter 
 until, some time later, I backed a bill for a friend, and had a 
 writ served upon me for £2^. I v^^as at my wits' end where 
 to get the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a 
 fortnight's grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from 
 my employers, and spent the time in begging in the city under 
 my disguise. In ten days I had the money, and had paid the 
 debt. 

 " Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to 
 arduous work at £2 a week, when I knew that I could earn 
 as much in a day by smearing my face with a little paint, lay- 
 ing my cap on the ground, and sitting still. It was a long 
 fight between my pride and the money, but the dollars won at 
 last, and I threw up reporting, and sat day after day in the 
 corner which I had first chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly 
 face, and filling my pockets with coppers. Only one man 
 knew my secret. He was the keeper of a low den in which I 
 used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could every morning 
 emerge as a squalid beggar, and in the evenings transform 
 myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, a 
 Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew 
 that my secret was safe in his possession. 

 " Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable 
 sums of money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets 
 of London could earn ;^7oo a year — which is less than my 
 average takings — but I had exceptional advantages in my 
 power of making up, and also in a facility of repartee, which 
 improved by practice, and made me quite a recognized char- 
 acter in the city. All day a stream of pennies, varied by sil- 



 THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP 151 

 ver, poured in upon me, and it was a very bad day in which I 
 failed to take £2. 

 " As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in 
 the country, and eventually married, without any one having a 
 suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that 
 I had business in the city. She little knew what. 

 "Last Monday I had finished for the day, and was dressing 
 in my room above the opium den, when I looked out of my 
 window, and saw, to my horror and astonishment, that my 
 wife was standing in the street, with her eyes fixed full upon 
 me. I gave a cry of surprise, threw up my arms to cover my 
 face, and, rushing to my confidant, the Lascar, entreated him 
 to prevent any one from coming up to me. I heard her voice 
 down-stairs, but I knew that she could not ascend. Swiftly I 
 threw off my clothes, pulled on those of a beggar, and put on 
 my pigments and wig. Even a wife's eyes could not pierce so 
 complete a disguise. But then it occurred to me that there 
 might be a search in the room, and that the clothes might be- 
 tray me. I threw open the window, reopening by my violence 
 a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in the bedroom 
 that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was weighted 
 by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from the 
 leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of 
 the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other 
 clothes would have followed, but at that moment there was a 
 rush of constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I 
 found, rather, I confess, to my relief, that instead of being 
 identified as Mr. Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his mur- 
 derer. 

 " I do not know that there is anything else for me to ex- 
 plain. I was determined to preserve my disguise as long as 
 possible, and hence my preference for a dirty face. Know- 
 ing that my wife would be terribly anxious, I slipped off my 
 ring, and confided it to the Lascar at a moment when no 
 constable was watching me, together with a hurried scrawl, 
 telling her that she had no cause to fear." 



 152 ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES 

 " That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. 

 " Good God ! What a week she must have spent !" 

 "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector 
 Bradstreet, "and I can quite understand that he might find it 
 difficult to post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it 
 to some sailor customer of his, who forgot all about it for some 
 days." 

 "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; " I have 
 no doubt of it. But have you never been prosecuted for 
 begging ?" 

 " Many times ; but what was a fine to me ?" 

 " It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. " If the 
 police are to hush this thing up, there must be no more of 
 Hugh Boone." 

 " I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man 
 can take." 

 " In that case I think that it is probable that no further 
 steps may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must 
 come out. I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much in- 
 debted to you for having cleared the matter up. I wish I 
 knew how you reach your results." 

 " I reached this one," said my friend, " by sitting upon five 
 pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, 
 that if we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for 
 breakfast." 




 B^venture IDITf 

 THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE 

 HAD called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes 
 upon the second morning after Christmas, with 
 the intention of wishing him the compliments of 
 the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a 
 purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the 
 right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly 
 studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, 
 and on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disrepu- 
 table hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in 
 several places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of 
 the chair suggested that the hat had been suspended in this 
 manner for the purpose of examination. 

 "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." 

 " Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can 
 discuss my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one " (he 
 jerked his thumb in the direction of the old hat), " but there 
 are points in connection with it which are not entirely devoid 
 of interest and even of instruction." 

 I seated myself in his arm-chair and warmed my hands 
 before his crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the 
 windows were thick with the ice crystals. " I suppose," 1 
 remarked, "that, homely as it looks, this thing has some 
 deadly story linked on to it — that it is the clew which will 
 guide you in the solution of some mystery and the punish- 
 ment of some crime." 

 " No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. 
 "Only one of those whimsical little incidents which will 



 154 ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES 

 happen when you have four million human beings all jostling 
 each other within the space of a few square miles. Amid the 
 action and reaction of so dense a swarm of humanity, every 
 possible combination of events may be expected to take place, 
 and many a little problem will be presented which may be 
 striking and bizarre without being criminal. We have al- 
 ready had experience of such." 

 " So much so," I remarked, " that of the last six cases 
 which I have added to my notes, three have been entirely 
 free of any legal crime." 

 " Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene 
 Adler papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, 
 and to the adventure of the man with the twisted lip. 
 Well, I have no doubt that this small matter will fall into the 
 same innocent category. You know Peterson, the commis- 
 sionaire ?" 

 " Yes." 

 " It is to him that this trophy belongs." 

 " It is his hat." 

 " No, no ; he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that 
 you will look upon it, not as a battered billycock, but as an 
 intellectual problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It 
 arrived upon Christmas morning, in company with a good fat 
 goose, which is, I have no doubt, roasting at this moment in 
 front of Peterson's fire. The facts are these : about four 
 o'clock on Christmas morning, Peterson, who, as you know, 
 is a very honest fellow, was returning from some small jolli- 
 fication, and was making his way homeward down Totten- 
 ham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in the gaslight, a 
 tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and carrying a white 
 goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the corner of 
 Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger and a 
 little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the man's 
 hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself, and, swing- 
 ing it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. 
 Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his 



 THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE 1 55 

 assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, 
 and seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing tow- 
 ards him, dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished 
 amid the labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of 
 Tottenham Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the 
 appearance of Peterson, so that he was left in possession of 
 the field of battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the 
 shape of this battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christ- 
 mas goose." 

 " Which surely he restored to their owner ?" 

 "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 
 * For Mrs. Henry Baker ' was printed upon a small card which 
 was tied to the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the in- 
 itials ' H. B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat ; but as 
 there are some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of 
 Henry Bakers in this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost 
 property to any one of them." 

 " What, then, did Peterson do ?" 

 " He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christ- 
 mas morning, knowing that even the smallest problems are of 
 interest to me. The goose we retained until this morning, 
 when there were signs that, in spite of the slight frost, it 
 would be well that it should be eaten without unnecessary 
 delay. Its finder has carried it off, therefore, to fulfil the 
 ultimate destiny of a goose, while I continue to retain 
 the hat of the unknown gentleman who lost his Christmas 
 dinner." 

 " Did he not advertise ?" 

 "No." 

 "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" 

 " Only as much as we can deduce." 

 " From his hat ?" 

 " Precisely." 

 " But you are joking. What can you gather from this old 
 battered felt ?" 

 " Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you 



 156 ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES 

 gather yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn 
 this article ?" 

 I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over 
 rather ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual 
 round shape, hard, and much the worse for wear. The lining 
 had been of red silk, but was a good deal discolored. There 
 was no maker's name ; but, as Holmes had remarked, the 
 initals " H. B." were scrawled upon one side. It was pierced 
 in the brim for a hat -securer, but the elastic was missing. 
 For the rest, it was cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted 
 in several places, although there seemed to have been some 
 attempt to hide the discolored patches by smearing them with 
 ink. 

 " I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. 

 ''On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You 
 fail, however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid 
 in drawing your inferences." 

 *' Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this 
 hat ?" 

 He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspec- 
 tive fashion which was characteristic of him. " It is perhaps 
 less suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and 
 yet there are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a 
 few others which represent at least a strong balance of proba- 
 bility. That the man was highly intellectual is of course 
 obvious upon the face of it, and also that he was fairly well- 
 to-do within the last three years, although he has now fallen 
 upon evil days. He had foresight, but has less now than for- 
 merly, pointing to a moral retrogression, which, when taken 
 with the decline of his fortunes, seems to indicate some evil 
 influence, probably drink, at work upon him. This may ac- 
 count also for the obvious fact that his wife has ceased to love 
 him." 

 " My dear Holmes !" 

 "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," 
 he continued, disregarding my remonstrance. " He is a man 



 THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE 1 57 

 who leads a sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training 
 entirely, is middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had 
 cut within the last few days, and which he anoints with lime- 
 cream. These are the more patent facts which are to be de- 
 duced from his hat. Also, by-the-way, that it is extremely 
 improbable that he has gas laid on in his house." 

 " You are certainly joking, Holmes." 

 " Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I 
 give you these results, you are unable to see how they are 
 attained ?" 

 " I have no doubt that I am very stupid ; but I must con- 
 fess that I am unable to follow you. For example, how did 
 you deduce that this man was intellectual ?" 

 For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It 
 came right over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of 
 his nose. "It is a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a 
 man with so large a brain must have something in it." 

 " The decline of his fortunes, then ?" 

 "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at 
 the edge came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. 
 Look at the band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If 
 this man could afford to buy so expensive a hat three years 
 ago, and has had no hat since, then he has assuredly gone 
 down in the world." 

 "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the 
 foresight and the moral retrogression ?" 

 Sherlock Holmes laughed. " Here is the foresight," said 
 he, putting his finger upon the little disk and loop of the hat- 
 securer. "They are never sold upon hats. If this man or- 
 dered one, it is a sign of a certain amount of foresight, since 
 he went out of his way to take this precaution against the 
 wind. But since we see that he has broken the elastic, and 
 has not troubled to replace it, it is obvious that he has less 
 foresight now than formerly, which is a distinct proof of a 
 weakening nature. On the other hand, he has endeavored to 
 conceal some of these stains upon the felt by daubing them 



 158 ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES 

 with ink, which is a sign that he has not entirely lost his self- 
 respect." 

 " Your reasoning is certainly plausible." 

 "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is 
 grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses lime- 
 cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the 
 lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number 
 of hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They« 
 all appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odor of lime- 
 cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, gray 
 dust of the street, but the fluffy brown dust of the house, 
 showing that it has been hung up in-doors most of the time ; 
 while the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof posi- 
 tive that the wearer perspired very freely, and could, there- 
 fore, hardly be in the best of training." 

 *' But his wife — you said that she had ceased to love 
 him." 

 " This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see 
 you, my dear Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust 
 upon your hat, and when your wife allows you to go out in 
 such a state, I shall fear that you also have been unfortunate 
 enough to lose your wife's affection." 

 " But he might be a bachelor." 

 " Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering 
 to his wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." 

 " You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do 
 you deduce that the gas is not laid on in his house ?" 

 " One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance ; 
 but when I see no less than five, I think that there can be 
 little doubt that the individual must be brought into frequent 
 contact with burning tallow — walks up-stairs at night probably 
 with his hat in one hand and a guttering candle in the other. 
 Anyhow, he never got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you 
 satisfied ?" 

 "Well, it is very ingenious," said 1, laughing; "but since, 
 as you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and 



 THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE 1 59 

 no harm done, save the loss of a goose, ail this seems to be 
 rather a waste of energy." 

 Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the 
 door flew open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into 
 the apartment with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who 
 is dazed with astonishment. 

 " The goose, Mr. Holmes ! The goose, sir !" he gasped. 

 "Eh.? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and 
 flapped oflt through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted 
 himself round upon the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's 
 excited face. 

 " See here, sir ! See what my wife found in its crop !" He 
 held out his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm 
 a brilliantly scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean 
 in size, but of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like 
 an electric point in the dark hollow of his hand. 

 Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. " By Jove, Peter- 
 son !" said he, " this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you 
 know what you have got ?" 

 " A diamond, sir ? A precious ston 3. It cuts into glass as 
 though it were putty." 

 " It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." 

 " Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle !". I ejacu- 
 lated. 

 " Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing 
 that I have read the advertisement about it in The Times every 
 day lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be 
 conjectured, but the reward offered of ^looo is certainly not 
 within a twentieth part of the market price." 

 "A thousand pounds ! Great Lord of mercy !" The com- 
 missionaire plumped down into a chair, and stared from one 
 to the other of us. 

 " That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there 
 are sentimental considerations in the background which would 
 induce the countess to part with half her fortune if she could 
 but recover the gem." 



 l6o ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES 

 " It was lost, if I remember aright, at the ' Hotel Cosmopoli- 
 tan,' " I remarked. 

 " Precisely so, on December 2 2d, just five days ago. John 
 Horner, a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from 
 the lady's jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong 
 that the case has been referred to the Assizes. I have some 
 account of the matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid 
 his newspapers, glancing over the dates, until at last he 
 smoothed one out, doubled it over, and read the following 
 paragraph : 

 " ' Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, 
 plumber, was brought up upon the charge of having upon the 
 22d inst. abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of 
 Morcar the valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James 
 Ryder, upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the 
 effect that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of 
 the Countess of Morcar upon the day of the robbery, in order 
 that he might solder the second bar of the grate, which was 
 loose. He had remained with Horner some little time, but 
 had finally been called away. On returning, he found that 
 Horner had disappeared, that the bureau had been forced 
 open, and that the small morocco casket in which, as it after- 
 wards transpired, the countess was accustomed to keep her 
 jewel, was lying empty upon the dressing - table. Ryder in- 
 stantly gave the alarm, and Horner was arrested the same 
 evening; but the stone could not be found either upon his 
 person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to the 
 countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on 
 discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, 
 where she found matters as described by the last witness. 
 Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the ar- 
 rest of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his 
 innocence in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous 
 conviction for robbery having been given against the prisoner, 
 the magistrate refused to deal summarily with the offence, but 
 referred it to the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of 



 THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE l6l 

 intense emotion during the proceedings, fainted away at the 
 conclusion, and was carried out of court.' 

 "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes, 
 thoughtfully, tossing aside the paper. " The question for us 
 now to solve is the sequence of events leading from a rifled 
 jewel-case at one end to the crop of a goose in Tottenham 
 Court Road at the other. You see, Watson, our little deduc- 
 tions have suddenly assumed a much more important and less 
 innocent aspect. Here is the stone ; the stone came from the 
 goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry Baker, the gentle- 
 man with the bad hat and all the other characteristics with 
 which I have bored you. So now we must set ourselves very 
 seriously to finding this gentleman, and ascertaining what part 
 he has played in this little mystery. To do this, we must try 
 the simplest means first, and these lie undoubtedly in an ad- 
 vertisement in all the evening papers. If this fail, I shall have 
 recourse to other methods." 

 " What will you say ?" 

 " Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then : 
 * Found at the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt 
 hat. Mr. Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6.30 
 this evening at 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." 

 " Very. But will he see it ?" 

 " Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a 
 poor man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared 
 by his mischance in breaking the window and by the ap- 
 proach of Peterson, that he thought of nothing but flight ; but 
 since then he must have bitterly regretted the impulse which 
 caused him to drop his bird. Then, again, the introduction of 
 his name will cause him to see it, for every one who knows 
 him will direct his attention to it. Here you are, Peterson, 
 run down to the advertising agency, and have this put in the 
 evening papers." 

 " In which, sir ?" 

 " Oh, in the Globe^ Star, Fall Mall, St. James's, Evening 
 News, Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." 



 l62 ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES 

 " Very well, sir. And this stone ?" 

 " Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, 
 Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back, and leave it 
 here with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman 
 in place of the one which your family is now devouring." 

 When the commissionaire had gone. Holmes took up the 
 stone and held it against the light. " It's a bonny thing," 
 said he. " Just see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it 
 is a nucleus and focus of crime. Every good stone is. They 
 are the devil's pet baits. In the larger and older jewels every 
 facet may stand for a bloody deed. This stone is not yet 
 twenty years old. It was found in the banks of the Amoy 
 River in Southern China, and is remarkable in having every 
 characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is blue in shade, 
 instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has already a 
 sinister history. There have been two murders, a vitriol- 
 throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about for 
 the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallized charcoal. 
 Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to 
 the gallows and the prison ? I'll lock it up in my strong 
 box now, and drop a line to the countess to say that we 
 have it." 

 " Do you think that this man Horner is innocent ?" 

 " I cannot tell." 

 " Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry 
 Baker, had anything to do with the matter ?" 

 " It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an 
 absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which 
 he was carrying was of considerably more value than if it 
 were made of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine 
 by a very simple test, if we have an answer to our advertise- 
 ment." 

 " And you can do nothing until then }" 

 " Nothing." 

 " In that case I shall continue my professional round. But 
 I shall come back in the evening at the hour you have men- 



 THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE 163 

 tioned, for I should like to see the solution of so tangled a 
 business." 

 "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a wood- 
 cock, I believe. By-the-way, in view of recent occurrences, 
 perhaps I ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." 

 I had been delayed at a case, and it w^as a little after half- 
 past six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As 
 I approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet 
 with a coat which was buttoned up to his chin, waiting out- 
 side in the bright semicircle which was thrown from the fan- 
 light. Just as I arrived, the door was opened, and we were 
 shown up together to Holmes's room. 

 " Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his arm- 
 chair, and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality 
 which he could so readily assume. " Pray take this chair by 
 the fire, Mr. Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that 
 your circulation is more adapted for summer than for winter. 
 Ah, Watson, you have just come at the right time. Is that 
 your hat, Mr. Baker ?" 

 " Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." 

 He was a large man, with rounded shoulders, a massive 
 head, and a broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed 
 beard of grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, 
 with a slight tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes's 
 surmise as to his habits. His rusty black frock-coat was but- 
 toned right up in front, with the collar turned up, and his lank 
 wrists protruded from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or 
 shirt. He spoke in a slow staccato fashion, choosing his 
 words with care, and gave the impression generally of a man 
 of learning and letters who had had ill-usage at the hands of 
 fortune. 

 "We have retained these things for some days," said 
 Holmes, " because we expected to see an advertisement from 
 you giving your address. I am at a loss to know now why 
 you did not advertise." 

 Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. " Shillings 



 l64 ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES 

 have not been so plentiful with me as they once were," he re- 
 marked. " I had no doubt that the gang of roughs who as- 
 saulted me had carried off both my hat and the bird. I did 
 not care to spend more money in a hopeless attempt at recov- 
 ering them." 

 " Very naturally. By-the-way, about the bird, we were com- 
 pelled to eat it" 

 " To eat it !" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his 
 excitement. 

 " Yes, it would have been of no use to any one had we not 
 done so. But I presume that this other goose upon the side- 
 board, which is about the same weight and perfectly fresh, 
 will answer your purpose equally well ?" 

 " Oh, certainly, certainly ;" answered Mr. Baker, with a sigh 
 of relief. 

 '' Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on 
 of your own bird, so if you wish — " 

 The man burst into a hearty laugh. " They might be use- 
 ful to me as relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond 
 that I can hardly see what use the disjecta membra of my late 
 acquaintance are going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, 
 with your permission, I will confine my attentions to the ex- 
 cellent bird which I perceive upon the sideboard." 

 Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight 
 shrug of his shoulders. 

 " There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. 
 " By-the-way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the 
 other one from ? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I 
 have seldom seen a better grown goose." 

 "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his 
 newly-gained property under his arm. " There are a few of 
 us who frequent the 'Alpha Inn,' near the Museum — we are 
 to be found in the Museum itself during the day, you under- 
 stand. This year our good host, Windigate by name, insti- 
 tuted a goose club, by which, on consideration of some few 
 pence every week, we were each to receive a bird at Christ- 



 THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE l6$ 

 mas. My pence were duly paid, and the rest is familiar to 
 you. I am much indebted to you, sir, for a Scotch bonnet is 
 fitted neither to my years nor my gravity.'' With a comical 
 pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and 
 strode off upon his way. 

 " So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes, when he 
 had closed the door behind him. " It is quite certain that he 
 knows nothing whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, 
 Watson ?" 

 " Not particularly." 

 " Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper, and 
 follow up this clew while it is still hot." 

 " By all means." 

 It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped 
 cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining 
 coldly in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by 
 blew out into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls 
 rang out crisply and loudly as we swung through the Doctors' 
 quarter, Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wig- 
 more Street into Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we 
 were in Bloomsbury at the " Alpha Inn," which is a small 
 public-house at the corner of one of the streets which runs 
 down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open the door of the 
 private bar, and ordered two glasses of beer from the ruddy- 
 faced, white-aproned landlord. 

 "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your 
 geese," said he. 

 " My geese !" The man seemed surprised. 

 " Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry 
 Baker, who was a member of your goose club." 

 " Ah ! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." 

 " Indeed ! Whose, then ?" 

 " Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Gar- 
 den." 

 " Indeed .? I know some of them. Which was it ?" 

 " Breckinridge is his name." 



 l66 ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES 

 " Ah ! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health, 
 landlord, and prosperity to your house. Good-night ?" 

 " Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up 
 his coat, as we came out into the frosty air. " Remember, 
 Watson, that though we have so homely a thing as a goose at 
 one end of this chain, we have at the other a man who will 
 certainly get seven years' penal servitude unless we can es- 
 tablish his innocence. It is possible that our inquiry may 
 but confirm his guilt ; but, in any case, we have a line of in- 
 vestigation which has been missed by the police, and which a 
 singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us follow it 
 out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and quick 
 march !" 

 We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so 
 through a zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One 
 of the largest stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, 
 and the proprietor, a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face 
 and trim side-whiskers, was helping a boy to put up the 
 shutters. 

 " Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. 

 The salesman nodded, and shot a questioning glance at my 
 companion. 

 " Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at 
 the bare slabs of marble. 

 "Let you have 500 to-morrow morning." 

 "That's no good." 

 " Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." 

 " Ah, but I was recommended to you." 

 "Who by.?" 

 " The landlord of the ' Alpha.' " 

 " Oh, yes ; I sent him a couple of dozen." 

 " Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them 
 from?" 

 To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger 
 from the salesman. 

 " Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his 



 THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE 167 

 arms akimbo, " what are you driving at ? Let's have it 
 straight, now." 

 " It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold 
 you the geese which you supplied to the ' Alpha.' " 

 " Well, then, I sha'n't tell you. So now !" 

 " Oh, it is a matter of no importance ; but I don't know 
 why you should be so warm over such a trifle." 

 "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pes- 
 tered as I am. When I pay good money for a good article 
 there should be an end of the business ; but it's ' Where are 
 the geese ?' and 'Who did you sell the geese to ?' and ' What will 
 you take for the geese ?' One would think they were the only 
 geese in the world, to hear the fuss that is made over them." 

 "Well, I have no connection with any other people who 
 have been making inquiries," said Holmes, carelessly. " If 
 you won't tell us the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always 
 ready to back my opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a 
 fiver on it that the bird I ate is country bred." 

 " Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," 
 snapped the salesman. 

 " It's nothing of the kind." 

 " I say it is." 

 " I don't believe it." 

 " D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have 
 handled them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those 
 birds that went to the ' Alpha ' were town bred." 

 " You'll never persuade me to believe that." 

 " Will you bet, then ?" 

 " It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. 
 But I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to 
 be obstinate." 

 The salesman chuckled grimly. " Bring me the books. 
 Bill," said he. 

 The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a 
 great greasy -backed one, laying them out together beneath 
 the hanging lamp. 



 l68 ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES 

 " Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, " I thought 
 that I was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that 
 there is still one left in my shop. You see this little book .^" 

 "Well?" 

 " That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see ? 
 Well, then, here on this page are the country folk, and the 
 numbers after their names are where their accounts are in the 
 big ledger. Now, then ! You see this other page in red ink ? 
 Well, that is a list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that 
 third name. Just read it out to me." 

 " Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road — 249," read Holmes. 

 " Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." 

 Holmes turned to the page indicated. *' Here you are, 
 *Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry sup- 
 plier.'" 

 " Now, then, what's the last entry V 

 " ' December 22. Twenty-four geese at 7^-. 6^.' " 

 " Quite so. There you are. And underneath ?" 

 " ' Sold to Mr. Windigate of the ' Alpha,' at 12s.' " 

 " What have you to say now ?" 

 Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a 
 sovereign from his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, 
 turning away with the air of a man whose disgust is too deep 
 for words. A few yards off he stopped under a lamp-post, 
 and laughed in the hearty, noiseless fashion which was pecul- 
 iar to him. 

 " When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 
 *pink 'un' protruding out of his pocket, you can always 
 draw him by a bet," said he. " I dare say that if I had put 
 ;f 100 down in front of him, that man would not have given 
 me such complete information as was drawn from him by 
 the idea that he was doing me on a wager. Well, Watson, 
 we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our quest, and the only 
 point which remains to be determined is whether we should 
 go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or whether we should re- 
 serve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what that surly fellow 



 THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE 169 

 said that there are others besides ourselves who are anxious 
 about the matter, and I should — " 

 His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub 
 which broke out from the stall which we had just left. Turn- 
 ing round we saw a little rat-faced fellow standing in the cen- 
 tre of the circle of yellow light which was thrown by the 
 swinging lamp, while Breckinridge the salesman, framed in 
 the door of his stall, was shaking his fists fiercely at the 
 cringing figure. 

 " I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. " I 
 wish you were all at the devil together. If you come pester- 
 ing me any more with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. 
 You bring Mrs. Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what 
 have you to do with it ? Did I buy the geese off you ?" 

 " No ; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the 
 little man. 

 " Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." 

 " She told me to ask you." 

 " Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. 
 I've had enough of it. Get out of this !" He rushed fiercely 
 forward, and the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. 

 " Ha ! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered 
 Holmes. " Come with me, and we will see what is to be 
 made of this fellow." Striding through the scattered knots 
 of people who lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion 
 speedily overtook the little man and touched him upon the 
 shoulder. He sprang round, and I could see in the gas- 
 light that every vestige of color had been driven from his 
 face. 

 " Who are you, then ? What do you want ?" he asked, in a 
 quavering voice. 

 " You will excuse me," said Holmes, blandly, " but I could 
 not help overhearing the questions which you put to the sales- 
 man just now. I think that I could be of assistance to you." 

 " You ? Who are you ? How could you know anything of 
 the matter ?" 



 IJO ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES 

 " My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know 
 what other people don't know." 

 *' But you can know nothing of this ?" 

 "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavor- 
 ing to trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of 
 Brixton Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in 
 turn to Mr. Windigate, of the ' Alpha,' and by him to his club, 
 of which Mr. Henry Baker is a member." 

 "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to 
 meet," cried the little fellow, with outstretched hands and 
 quivering fingers. " I can hardly explain to you how inter- 
 ested I am in this matter." 

 Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. 
 " In that case we had better discuss it in a cosey room rather 
 than in this windswept market-place," said he. " But pray 
 tell me, before we go farther, who it is that I have the pleas- 
 ure of assisting." 

 The man hesitated for an instant. " My name is John 
 Robinson," he answered, with a sidelong glance. 

 " No, no ; the real name," said Holmes, sweetly. " It is 
 always awkward doing business with an aliasT 

 A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. " Well, 
 then," said he, " my real name is James Ryder." 

 " Precisely so. Head attendant at the ' Hotel Cosmopolitan.' 
 Pray step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you 
 everything which you would wish to know." 

 The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us 
 with half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure 
 whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. 
 Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were 
 back in the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been 
 said during our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new 
 companion, and the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, 
 spoke of the nervous tension within him. 

 " Here we are !" said Holmes, cheerily, as we filed into the 
 room. " The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You 



 THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE 171 

 look cold, Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just 
 put on my slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. 
 Now, then ! You want to know what became of those 
 geese i*" 

 "Yes, sir." 

 " Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I im- 
 agine, in which you were interested — white, with a black bar 
 across the tail." 

 Ryder quivered with emotion. " Oh, sir, he cried," can you 
 tell me where it went to ?" 

 " It came here." 

 "Here?" 

 "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't won- 
 der that you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after 
 it was dead — the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever 
 was seen. I have it here in my museum." 

 Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantel- 
 piece with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box, 
 and held up the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, 
 with a cold, brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood 
 glaring with a drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to 
 disown it. 

 "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes, quietly. "Hold 
 up, man, or you'll be into the fire ! Give him an arm back 
 into his chair, Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in 
 for felony with impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So ! 
 Now he looks a little more human. What a shrimp it is, to 
 be sure !" 

 For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the 
 brandy brought a tinge of color into his cheeks, and he sat 
 staring with frightened eyes at his accuser. 

 " I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs 
 which I could possibly need, so there is little which you need 
 tell me. Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make 
 the case complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone 
 of the Countess of Morcar's ?" 



 172 ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES 

 " It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he, in a 
 crackling voice. 

 " I see — her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation 
 of sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as 
 it has been for better men before you ; but you were not very 
 scrupulous in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, 
 that there is the making of a very pretty villain in you. You 
 knew that this man Horner, the plumber, had been concerned 
 in some such matter before, and that suspicion would rest the 
 more readily upon him. What did you do, then ? You made 
 some small job in my lady's room — you and your confederate 
 Cusack — and you managed that he should be the man sent 
 for. Then, when he had left, you rifled the jewel-case, raised 
 the alarm, and had this unfortunate man arrested. You 
 then—" 

 Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and 
 clutched at my companion's knees. " For God's sake, have 
 mercy !" he shrieked. " Think of my father ! of my mother ! 
 It would break their hearts. I never went wrong before ! I 
 never will again. I swear it. I'll swear it on a Bible. Oh, 
 don't bring it into court ! For Christ's sake, don't !" 

 " Get back into your chair !" said Holmes, sternly. " It is 
 very well to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little 
 enough of this poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which 
 he knew nothing." 

 " I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then 
 the charge against him will break down." 

 " Hum ! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a 
 true account of the next act. How came the stone into the 
 goose, and how came the goose into the open market .'' Tell 
 us the truth, for there lies your only hope of safety." 

 Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. " I will tell 
 you it just as it happened, sir," said he. " When Horner had 
 been arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me 
 to get away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what 
 moment the police might not take it into their heads to search 




 HAVE MERCY !' HE SHRIEKED" 



 THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE 173 

 me and my room. There was no place about the hotel where 
 it would be safe. I went out, as if on some commission, and 
 I made for my sister's house. She had married a man named 
 Oakshott, and lived in Brixton Road, where she fattened fowls 
 for the market. All the way there every man I met seemed to 
 me to be a policeman or a detective ; and, for all that it was 
 a cold night, the sweat was pouring down my face before I 
 came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me what was the 
 matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I had been 
 upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went into the 
 back yard and smoked a pipe, and wondered what it would 
 be best to do. 

 "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad^ 
 and has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day 
 he had met me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, 
 and how they could get rid of what they stole. I knew that 
 he would be true to me, for I knew one or two things about 
 him ; so I made up my mind to go right on to Kilburn, where 
 he lived, and take him into my confidence. He would show 
 me how to turn the stone into money. But how to get to him 
 in safety ? I thought of the agonies I had gone through in 
 coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be seized and 
 searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat pocket. 
 I was leaning against the wall at the time, and looking at the 
 geese which were waddling about round my feet, and sudden- 
 ly an idea came into my head which showed me how I could 
 beat the best detective that ever lived. 

 " My sister had told me some weeks before that I might 
 have the pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew 
 that she was always as good as her word. I would take my 
 goose now, and in it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. 
 There was a little shed in the yard, and behind this I drove 
 one of the birds — a fine big one, white, with a barred tail. I 
 caught it, and, prying its bill open, I thrust the stone down 
 its throat as far as my finger could reach. The bird gave a 
 gulp, and I felt the stone pass along its gullet and down into 



 174 ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES 

 its crop. But the creature flapped and struggled, and out 
 came my sister to know what was the matter. As I turned 
 to speak to her the brute broke loose and fluttered off among 
 the others. 

 " ' Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem ?' says she. 

 " 'Well,' said I, ' you said you'd give me one for Christmas, 
 and I was feeling which was the fattest.' 

 " ' Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you — Jem's bird, 
 we call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twen- 
 ty-six of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and 
 two dozen for the market.' 

 " ' Thank you, Maggie,' says I ; ' but if it is all the same to 
 you, I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' 

 " * The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, ' and 
 we fattened it expressly for you.' 

 " ' Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' 
 said I. 

 " ' Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. ' Which is 
 it you want, then ?' 

 " ' That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle 
 of the flock.' 

 " ' Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' 

 " Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the 
 bird all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, 
 for he was a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. 
 He laughed until he choked, and we got a knife and opened 
 the goose. My heart turned to water, for there was no sign 
 of the stone, and I knew that some terrible mistake had oc- 
 curred. I left the bird, rushed back to my sister's, and hurried 
 into the back yard. There was not a bird to be seen there. 

 " ' Where are they all, Maggie ?' I cried. 

 " ' Gone to the dealer's, Jim.' 

 "'Which dealer^s?' 

 " ' Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' 

 " ' But was there another with a barred tail V I asked, ' the 
 same as the one I chose ?' 



 THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE 175 

 " ' Yes, Jem ; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could 
 never tell them apart.' 

 " Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as 
 my feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge ; but he had 
 sold the lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to 
 where they had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. 
 Well, he has always answered me like that. My sister thinks 
 that I am going mad. Sometimes I think that I am myself. 
 And now — and now I am myself a branded thief, without ever 
 having touched the wealth for which I sold my character. 
 God help me ! God help me !" He burst into convulsive 
 sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. 

 There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breath- 
 ing, and by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes's fin- 
 ger-tips upon the edge of the table. Then my friend rose and 
 threw open the door. 

 " Get out !" said he. 

 " What, sir ! Oh, heaven bless you !" 

 " No more words. Get out !" 

 And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a 
 clatter upon the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rat- 
 tle of running footfalls from the street. 

 "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand 
 for his clay pipe, " I am not retained by the police to supply 
 their deficiencies. If Horner were in danger it would be an- 
 other thing ; but this fellow will not appear against him, and 
 the case must collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a 
 felony, but it is just possible that I am saving a soul. This 
 fellow will not go wrong again ; he is too terribly frightened. 
 Send him to jail now, and you make him a jail-bird for life. 
 Besides, it is the season of forgiveness. Chance has put in 
 our way a most singular and whimsical problem, and its solu- 
 tion is its own reward. If you will have the goodness to 
 touch the bell, doctor, we will begin another investigation, in 
 which, also, a bird will be the chief feature." 




 BDventure mut 

 THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND 

 N glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases 
 in which I have during the last eight years studied 
 the methods of my friend Sherlock Holmes, I find 
 many tragic, some comic, a large number merely 
 strange, but none commonplace ; for, working as he did rath- 
 er for the love of his art than for the acquirement of wealth, 
 he refused to associate himself with any investigation which 
 did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. 
 Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which 
 presented more singular features than that which was associ- 
 ated with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of 
 Stoke Moran. The events in question occurred in the early 
 days of my association with Holmes, when we were sharing 
 rooms as bachelors in Baker Street. It is possible that I 
 might have placed them upon record before, but a promise of 
 secrecy was made at the time, from which I have only been 
 freed during the last month by the untimely death of the lady 
 to whom the pledge was given. It is perhaps as well that the 
 facts should now come to light, for I have reasons to know 
 that there are wide-spread rumors as to the death of Dr. 
 Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even more 
 terrible than the truth. 

 It was early in April in the year 'S^ that I woke one morn- 
 ing to find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the 
 side of my bed. He was a late riser as a rule, and as the 
 clock on the mantel-piece showed me that it was only a quar- 
 ter past seven, I blinked up at him in some surprise, and per- 



 THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND l^^ 

 haps just a little resentment, for I was myself regular in my 
 habits. 

 "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's 
 the common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked 
 up, she retorted upon me, and I on you." 

 " What is it, then— a fire ?" 

 " No ; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in 
 a considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing 
 me. She is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when 
 young ladies wander about the metropolis at this hour of the 
 morning, and knock sleepy people up out of their beds, I pre- 
 sume that it is something very pressing which they have to 
 communicate. Should it prove to be an interesting case, you 
 would, I am sure, wish to follow it from the outset. I thought, 
 at any rate, that I should call you and give you the chance." 

 " My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." 

 I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his 
 professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid deduc- 
 tions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a log- 
 ical basis, with which he unravelled the problems which were 
 submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes, and was 
 ready in a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the 
 sitting-room. A lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, 
 who had been sitting in the window, rose as we entered. 

 " Good - morning, madam," said Holmes, cheerily. "My 
 name is Sherlock Holmes. This is my intimate friend and 
 associate, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as freely 
 as before myself. Ha ! I am glad to see that Mrs. Hudson 
 has had the good sense to light the fire. Pray draw up to it, 
 and I shall order you a cup of hot coffee, for I observe that 
 you are shivering." 

 "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman, 
 in a low voice, changing her seat as requested. 

 "What, then?" 

 "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her 
 veil as she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a 



 178 ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES 

 pitiable state of agitation, her face all drawn and gray, with 
 restless, frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. 
 Her features and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but 
 her hair was shot with premature gray, and her expression 
 was weary and haggard. Sherlock Holmes ran her over with 
 one of his quick, all-comprehensive glances. 

 " You must not fear," said he, soothingly, bending forward 
 and patting her forearm. " We shall soon set matters right, 
 I have no doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I 
 see." 

 " You know me, then ?" 

 " No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the 
 palm of your left glove. You must have started early, and 
 yet you had a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, be- 
 fore you reached the station." 

 The lady gave a violent start, and stared in bewilderment 
 at my companion. 

 " There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. 
 " The left arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less 
 than seven places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is 
 no vehicle save a dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, 
 and then only when you sit on the left-hand side of the 
 driver." 

 " Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," 
 said she. " I started from home before six, reached Leather- 
 head at twenty past, and came in by the first train to Water- 
 loo. Sir, I can stand this strain no longer ; I shall go mad if 
 it continues. I have no one to turn to — none, save only one, 
 who cares for me, and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I 
 have heard of you, Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from 
 Mrs. Farintosh, whom you helped in the hour of her sore need. 
 It was from her that I had your address. Oh, sir, do you not 
 think that you could help me, too, and at least throw a little 
 light through the dense darkness which surrounds me ? At 
 present it is out of my power to reward you for your services, 
 but in a month or six weeks I shall be married, with the con- 



 THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND 179 

 trol of my own income, and then at least you shall not find 
 me ungrateful." 

 Holmes turned to his desk, and unlocking it, drew out a 
 small case-book, which he consulted. 

 " Farintosh," said he. " Ah yes, I recall the case ; it was 
 concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your 
 time, Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy 
 to devote the same care to your case as I did to that of your 
 friend. As to reward, my profession is its own reward ; but 
 you are at liberty to defray whatever expenses I may be put 
 to, at the time which suits you best. And now 1 beg that you 
 will lay before us everything that may help us in forming an 
 opinion upon the matter." 

 " Alas !" replied our visitor, " the very horror of my situa- 
 tion lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspi- 
 cions depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem 
 trivial to another, that even he to whom of all others I have a 
 right to look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him 
 about it as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not 
 say so, but I can read it from his soothing answers and avert- 
 ed eyes. But I have heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see 
 deeply into the manifold wickedness of the human heart. 
 You may advise me how to walk amid the dangers which en- 
 compass me." 

 "I am all attention, madam." 

 " My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my step- 
 father, who is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon fam- 
 ilies in England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western 
 border of Surrey." 

 Holmes nodded his head. " The name is familiar to me," 
 said he. 

 " The family was at one time among the richest in England, 
 and the estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in 
 the north, and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, 
 however, four successive heirs were of a dissolute and waste- 
 ful disposition, and the family ruin was eventually completed 



 l8o ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES 

 by a gambler in the days of the Regency. Nothing was left 
 save a few acres of ground, and the two -hundred -year -old 
 house, which is itself crushed under a heavy mortgage. The 
 last squire dragged out his existence there, living the horrible 
 life of an aristocratic pauper ; but his only son, my step-father, 
 seeing that he must adapt himself to the new conditions, ob- 
 tained an advance from a relative, which enabled him to take 
 a medical degree, and went out to Calcutta, where, by his pro- 
 fessional skill and his force of character, he established a 
 large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused by some 
 robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he beat 
 his native butler to death, and narrowly escaped a capital sen- 
 tence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment, 
 and afterwards returned to England a morose and disappoint- 
 ed man. 

 "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, 
 Mrs. Stoner, the young widow of Major-general Stoner, of the 
 Bengal Artillery. My sister Julia and I were twins, and we 
 were only two years old at the time of my mother's re-mar- 
 riage. She had a considerable sum of money — not less than 
 ;^iooo a year — and this she bequeathed to Dr. Roylott 
 entirely while we resided with him, with a provision that a 
 certain annual sum should be allowed to each of us in the 
 event of our marriage. Shortly after our return to England 
 my mother died — she was killed eight years ago in a railway 
 accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his at- 
 tempts to establish himself in practice in London, and took 
 us to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. 
 The money which my mother had left was enough for all our 
 wants, and there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. 

 " But a terrible change came over our step-father about this 
 time. Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our 
 neighbors, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of 
 Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up 
 in his house, and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious 
 quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of tern- 



 THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND l8l 

 per approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of 
 the family, and in my step-father's case it had, I believe, been 
 intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of 
 disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the 
 police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, 
 and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of im- 
 mense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. 

 " Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet 
 into a stream, and it was only by paying over all the money 
 which I could gather together that I was able to avert another 
 public exposure. He had no friends at all save the wander- 
 ing gypsies, and he would give these vagabonds leave to en- 
 camp upon the few acres of bramble -covered land which 
 represent the family estate, and would accept in return the 
 hospitality of their tents, wandering away with them some- 
 times for weeks on end. He has a passion also for Indian 
 animals, which are sent over to him by a correspondent, and 
 he has at this moment a cheetah and a^baboon, which wander 
 freely over his grounds, and are feared by the villagers almost 
 as much as their master. 

 " You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister 
 Julia and I had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant 
 would stay with us, and for a long time we did all the work of 
 the house. She was but thirty at the time of her death, and 
 yet her hair had already begun to whiten, even as mine has." 

 " Your sister is dead, then ?" 

 " She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I 
 wish to speak to you. You can understand that, living the 
 life which I have described, we were little likely to see anyone 
 of our own age and position. We had, how^ever, an aunt, my 
 mother's maiden sister. Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives 
 near Harrow, and we were occasionally allowed to pay short 
 visits at this lady's house. Julia went there at Christmas two 
 years ago, and met there a half -pay major of marines, to 
 whom she became engaged. My step-father learned of the 
 engagement when my sister returned, and offered no objec- 



 l82 ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES 

 tion to the marriage; but within a fortnight of the day which 
 had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event occurred 
 which has deprived me of my only companion." 

 Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with 
 his eyes closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half 
 opened his lids now and glanced across at his visitor. 

 "Pray be precise as to details," said he. 

 " It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dread- 
 ful time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as 
 I have already said, very old, and only one wing is now in- 
 habited. The bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, 
 the sitting-rooms being in the central block of the buildings. 
 Of these bedrooms the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my 
 sister'Sj and the third my own. There is no communication 
 between them, but they all open out into the same corridor. 
 Do I make myself plain ?" 

 " Perfectly so." 

 " The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. 
 That fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early,- 
 though we knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister 
 was troubled by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which 
 it was his custom to smoke. She left her room, therefore, 
 and came into mine, where she sat for some time, chatting 
 about her approaching wedding. At eleven o'clock she rose 
 to leave me but she paused at the door and looked back. 

 " * Tell me, Helen,' said she, * have you ever heard any one 
 whistle in the dead of the night V 

 " ' Never,' said I. 

 " ' I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, 
 in your sleep ?' 

 " ' Certainly not. But why ?' 

 " * Because during the last few nights I have always, about 
 three in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light 
 sleeper, and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came 
 from — perhaps from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I 
 thought that I would just ask you whether you had heard it. 



 THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND 183 

 " * No, I have not. It must be those wretched gypsies in 
 the plantation.' 

 " ' Very Hkely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder 
 that you did not hear it also.' 

 " * Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' 

 "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She 
 smiled back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later 
 I heard her key turn in the lock." 

 " Indeed," said Holmes. " Was it your custom always to 
 lock yourselves in at night ?" 

 " Always." 

 " And why ?" 

 " I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a 
 cheetah and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless 
 our doors were locked." 

 " Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." 

 " I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impend- 
 ing misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will rec- 
 ollect, were twins, and you know how subtle are the links 
 which bind two souls which are so closely allied. It was a 
 wild night. The wind was howling outside, and the rain was 
 beating and splashing against the windows. Suddenly, amid 
 all the hubbub of the gale, there burst forth the wild scream 
 of a terrified woman. I knew that it was my sister's voice. 
 I sprang from my bed, wrapped a shawl round me, and rushed 
 into the corridor. As I opened my door I seemed to hear a 
 low whistle, such as my sister described, and a few moments 
 later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had fallen. As 
 I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, and 
 revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it horror-stricken, 
 not knowing what was about to issue from it. By the light of 
 the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the opening, her 
 face blanched with terror, her hands groping for help, her 
 whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a drunkard. I ran 
 to her and threw my arms round her, but at that moment her 
 knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. She 



 l84 ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES 

 writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were 
 dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not 
 recognized me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked 
 out in a voice which I shall never forget, ' Oh, my God ! 
 Helen ! It was the band ! The speckled band !' There was 
 something else which she would fain have said, and she 
 stabbed with her finger into the air in the direction of the 
 doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion seized her and choked 
 her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for my step-father, 
 and I met him hastening from his room in his dressing-gown. 
 When he reached my sister's side she was unconscious, and 
 though he poured brandy down her throat and sent for med- 
 ical aid from the village, all efforts were* in vain, for she slow- 
 ly sank and died without having recovered her consciousness. 
 Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." 

 " One moment," said Holmes ; " are you sure about this 
 whistle and metallic sound ? Could you swear to it ?" 

 " That was what the county coroner asked me at the inqui- 
 ry. It is my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among 
 the crash of the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may 
 possibly have been deceived." 

 " Was your sister dressed ?" 

 " No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was 
 found the charred stump of a match, and in her left a match- 
 box." 

 "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her 
 when the alarm took place. That is important. And what 
 conclusions did the coroner come to ?" 

 " He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's 
 conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was 
 unable to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence 
 showed that the door had been fastened upon the inner side, 
 and the windows were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with 
 broad iron bars, which were secured every night. The walls 
 were carefully sounded, and were shown to be quite solid all 
 round, and the flooring was also thoroughly examined, with 



 THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND 185 

 the same result. The chimney is wide, but is barred up by- 
 four large staples. It is certain, therefore, that my sister was 
 quite alone when she met her end. Besides, there were no 
 marks of any violence upon her." 

 " How about poison ?" 

 " The doctors examined her for it, but without success." 

 "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, 
 then ?'* 

 "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous 
 shock, though what it was that frightened her I cannot imag- 
 ine." 

 " Were there gypsies in the plantation at the time ?" 

 " Yes, there are nearly always some there." 

 " Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band 
 — a speckled band .''" 

 " Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk 
 of delirum, sometimes that it may have referred to some band 
 of people, perhaps to these very gypsies in the plantation. I 
 do not know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so 
 many of them wear over their heads might have suggested the 
 strange adjective which she used." 

 Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being 
 satisfied. 

 " These are very deep waters," said he ; " pray go on with 
 your narrative." 

 " Two years have passed since then, and my life has been 
 until lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear 
 friend, whom I have known for many years, has done me the 
 honor to ask my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage — 
 Percy Armitage — the second son of Mr. Armitage, of^Crane 
 Water, near Reading. My step-father has offered no opposi- 
 tion to the match, and we are to be married in the course of 
 the spring. Two days ago some repairs were started in the 
 west wing of the building, and my bedroom wall has been 
 pierced, so that I have had to move into the chamber in which 
 my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in which she 



 l86 ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES 

 slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last night, as I 
 lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I suddenly heard in 
 the silence of the night the low whistle which had been the 
 herald of her own death, I sprang up and lit the lamp, but 
 nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to go 
 to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was 
 daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the 'Crown Inn,' 
 which is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence 
 I have come on this morning with the one object of seeing 
 you and asking your advice." 

 " You have done wisely," said my friend. " But have you 
 told me all ?" 

 "Yes, all." 

 " Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your step- 
 father." 

 " Why, what do you mean ?" 

 For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace 
 which fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five 
 little livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were 
 printed upon the white wrist. 

 " You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. 

 The lady colored deeply and covered over her injured 
 wrist. " He is a hard man," she said, " and perhaps he hard- 
 ly knows his own strength." 

 There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned 
 his chin upon his hands and stared into the crackling 
 fire. 

 "This is a very deep business," he said, at last. "There 
 are a thousand details which I should desire to know before I 
 decide upon our course of action. Yet we have not a mo- 
 ment to lose. If we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, 
 would it be possible for us to see over these rooms without 
 the knowledge of your step-father ?" 

 " As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon 
 some most important business. It is probable that he will be 
 away all day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. 



 THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND 187 

 We have a house-keeper now, but she is old and fooHsh, and I 
 could easily get her out of the way." 

 " Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson ?" 

 " By no means." 

 "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do 
 yourself?" 

 " I have one or two things which I would wish to do now 
 that I am in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock 
 train, so as to be there in time for your coming." 

 " And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have 
 myself some small business matters to attend to. Will you 
 not wait and breakfast ?" 

 " No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I 
 have confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to see- 
 ing you again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black 
 veil over her face and glided from the room. 

 " And what do you think of it all, Watson ?" asked Sher- 
 lock Holmes, leaning back in his chair. 

 "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister busi- 
 ness." 

 " Dark enough and sinister enough." 

 " Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and 
 walls are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are 
 impassable, then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone 
 when she met her mysterious end." 

 " What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what 
 of the very peculiar words of the dying woman ?" 

 " I cannot think." 

 " When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the pres- 
 ence of a band of gypsies who are on intimate terms with this 
 old doctor, the fact that we have every reason to believe that 
 the doctor has an interest in preventing his step-daughter's 
 marriage, the dying allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact 
 that Miss Helen Stoner heard a metallic clang, which might 
 have been caused by one of those metal bars which secured 
 the shutters falling back into their place, I think that there is 



 1 88 ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES 

 good ground to think that the mystery may be cleared along 
 those lines." 

 " But what, then, did the gypsies do ?" 

 " I cannot imagine." 

 " I see many objections to any such theory." 

 " And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are 
 going to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the 
 objections are fatal, or if they may be explained away. But 
 what in the name of the devil !" 

 The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by 
 the fact that our door had been suddenly dashed open, and 
 that a huge man had framed himself in the aperture. His 
 costume was a peculiar mixture of the professional and of the 
 agricultural, having a black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a 
 pair of high gaiters, with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. 
 So tall was he that his hat actually brushed the cross bar of 
 the doorway, and his breadth seemed to span it across from 
 side to side. A large face, seared with a thousand wrinkles, 
 burned yellow with the sun, and marked with every evil pas- 
 sion, was turned from one to the other of us, while his deep- 
 set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, fleshless nose, gave him 
 somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old bird of prey. 

 " Which of you is Holmes ?" asked this apparition. 

 "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said 
 my companion, quietly. 

 " I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." 

 "Indeed, doctor," said Holmes, blandly. "Pray take a 
 seat." 

 " I will do nothing of the kind. My step-daughter has been 
 here. I have traced her. What has she been saying to you .?" 

 "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. 

 " What has she been saying to you ?" screamed the old man, 
 furiously. 

 " But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," contin- 
 ued my companion, imperturbably. 

 " Ha ! You put me off, do you ?" said our new visitor, 



 THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND 189 

 taking a step forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I 
 know you, you scoundrel ! I have heard of you before. You 
 are Holmes, the meddler." 

 My friend smiled. 

 " Holmes, the busybody !" 

 His smile broadened. 

 " Holmes, the Scotland-yard Jack-in-office !" 

 Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most 
 entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for 
 there is a decided draught." 

 " I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to 
 meddle with my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been 
 here. I traced her ! I am a dangerous man to fall foul of ! 
 See here." He stepped swiftly forward, seized the poker, and 
 bent it into a curve with his huge brown hands. 

 " See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, 
 and hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace, he strode out 
 of the room. 

 " He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. 
 " I am not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might 
 have shown him that my grip was not much more feeble than 
 his own." As he spoke he picked up the steel poker, and 
 with a sudden effort straightened it out again. 

 " Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the 
 official detective force ! This incident gives zest to our inves- 
 tigation, however, and I only trust that our little friend will 
 not suffer from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace 
 her. And now, Watson, we shall order breakfast, and after- 
 wards I shall walk down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope 
 to get some data which may help us in this matter." 

 It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned 
 from his excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue pa- 
 per, scrawled over with notes and figures. 

 " I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To 
 determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out 



 190 ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES 

 the present prices of the investments with which it is con- 
 cerned. The total income, which at the time of the wife's 
 death was little short of ;^iioo, is now, through the fall in ag- 
 ricultural prices, not more than ;^75o. Each daughter can 
 claim an income of ^250, in case of marriage. It is evident, 
 therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would 
 have had a mere pittance, while even one of them would crip- 
 ple him to a very serious extent. My morning's work has not 
 been wasted, since it has proved that he has the very strongest 
 motives for standing in the way of anything of the sort. And 
 now, Watson, this is too serious for dawdling, especially as 
 the old man is aware that we are interesting ourselves in his 
 affairs ; so if you are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to 
 Waterloo. I should be very much obliged if you would slip 
 your revolver into your pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excel- 
 lent argument with gentlemen who can twist steel pokers into 
 knots. That and a tooth-brush are, I think, all that we need." 

 At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for 
 Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn, and 
 drove for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. 
 It was a perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds 
 in the heavens. The trees and way-side hedges were just 
 throwing out their first green shoots, and the air was full of 
 the pleasant smell of the moist earth. To me at least there 
 was a strange contrast between the sweet promise of the 
 spring and this sinister quest upon which we were engaged. 
 My companion sat in the front of the trap, his arms folded, 
 his hat pulled down over his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his 
 breast, buried in the deepest thought. Suddenly, however, 
 he started, tapped me on the shoulder, and pointed over the 
 meadows. 

 " Look there !" said he. 

 A heavily-timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, 
 thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the 
 branches there jutted out the gray gables and high roof-tree 
 of a very old mansion. 



 THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND I9I 

 " Stoke Moran ?" said he. 

 " Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," re- 
 marked the driver. 

 " There is some building going on there," said Holmes ; 
 " that is where we are going." 

 " There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster 
 of roofs some distance to the left ; " but if you want to get 
 to the house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so 
 by the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady 
 is walking." 

 " And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, 
 shading his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you 
 suggest." 

 We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its 
 way to Leatherhead. 

 " I thought it as well," said Holmes, as we climbed the 
 stile, " that this fellow should think we had come here as 
 architects, or on some definite business. It may stop his 
 gossip. Good-afternoon, Miss Stoner. You see that we have 
 been as good as our word." 

 Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us 
 with a face which spoke her joy. " I have been waiting so 
 eagerly for you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. 
 "All has turned out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to 
 town, and it is unlikely that he will be back before evening." 

 " We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaint-, 
 ance," said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what 
 had occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she 
 listened. 

 " Good heavens !" she cried, " he has followed me, then." 

 " So it appears." 

 " He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from 
 him. What will he say when he returns ?" 

 " He must guard himself, for he may find that there is some 
 one more cunning than himself upon his track. You must 
 lock yourself up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall 



 192 ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES 

 take you away to your aunt's at Harrow, Now, we must make 
 the best use of our time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms 
 which we are to examine." 

 The building was of gray, lichen-blotched stone, with a high 
 central portion, and two curving wings, like the claws of a 
 crab, thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the 
 windows were broken, and blocked with wooden boards, while 
 the roof was partly caved in, a picture of ruin. The centra 
 portion was in little better repair, but the right-hand block 
 was comparatively modern, and the blinds in the windows, 
 with the blue smoke curling up from the chimneys, showed 
 that this was where the family resided. Some scaffolding had 
 been erected against the end wall, and the stone-work had 
 been broken into, but there were no signs of any workmen at 
 the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and down 
 the ill-trimmed lawn, and examined with deep attention the 
 outsides of the windows. 

 " This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to 
 sleep, the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the 
 main building to Dr. Roylott's chamber .?" 

 " Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." 

 " Pending the alterations, as I understand. By-the-way, 
 there does not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs 
 at that end wall." 

 " There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move 
 rne from my room." 

 " Ah ! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this 
 narrow wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms 
 open. There are windows in it, of course ?" 

 " Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for any one to pass 
 through." 

 " As you both locked you
diff --git a/sherlock_img.png b/sherlock_img.png
	# -- coding: utf-8 --
	"""
	Created on Tue Jul 11 13:57:23 2017

	@author: nguarinz
	"""
	from os import path
	from PIL import Image
	import numpy as np
	import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

	from wordcloud import WordCloud, STOPWORDS

	d = path.dirname(__file__)

	# Read the whole text.
	text = open(path.join(d, 'sherlock.txt')).read()

	# read the mask image
	sherlock_mask = np.array(Image.open(path.join(d, "sherlock_img.png")))

	stopwords = set(STOPWORDS)
	stopwords.add("said")

	wc = WordCloud(#font_path='EraserRegular.ttf',
	background_color="white",
	max_words=2000,
	mask=sherlock_mask,
	width=1800,
	height=1400,
	stopwords=stopwords)
	# generate word cloud
	wc.generate(text)

	# store to file
	# wc.to_file(path.join(d, "sherlock.png"))

	# show
	plt.imshow(wc, interpolation='bilinear')
	plt.axis("off")
	plt.show()