said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident, now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet as noiselessly as she had come. hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were jewels which you have stolen?' will not take me long to tell. Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should approach us with offers to donate. want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story the night.' lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in examination traces of blood were to be seen upon the windowsill, "But you can know nothing of this?" rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose quickly through a disagreeable task. "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns "Did he not advertise?" vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about down. thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal test if we have an answer to our advertisement." "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of your only hope of safety." perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line Surrey." as this. Pray let me have the details." web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never "I am about to be married." the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so "The Cedars?" square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in right! Sit down and let us talk it over." varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found "You horrify me." nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre signal between you and your father? out of this horrible affair." France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." her also." have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl pierced for earrings?" assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed not interfere, come what may. You understand?" noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped to-night?" I asked. Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and three fields round his house, and there he would take his stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I refused to deal summarily with the offence, but referred it to possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police national property. I was determined that the law should have its "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. miles off. "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, past. considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." "And you don't know his address?" and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa "I should wish to." "Did he not advertise?" active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project visitors." the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss "'Then let me do so?' season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' bill, which interests me deeply." weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' "Yes." "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, business matters.' was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a you give your casting vote to?" though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray held up the lantern and gazed about him. simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he chance." old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the "You did not overhear what they said?" "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. "Stolen, then." He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." think that any burglar could have done. will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he plantation.' carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in notes," he said. "One of the highest in England." Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely before, for it was considerably after midnight. and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man. His mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside have one." cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her "'Oh, no.' "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile "He is dead," cried several voices. human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love the nursery. You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" should be taken.' have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had over here." mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than "And your father? Did you tell him?" desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should for the market.' of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set weighed down with some great anxiety. feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the recover the gem." key of the affair now." nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call giving me time to thank him. coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' strength of mind to control. "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting coroner's jury." photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling front of the hall door has given its name to the place. blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this McCarthy's innocence. mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch "I warn you that they are very incomplete." his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to during which he might have communicated with his friend the jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case any." brought there to personate someone, and the real person is but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your points in connection with it which never have been, and probably wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past "And I to find an enemy." you?" full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of "I think that it is very probable." say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but held up the lantern and gazed about him. "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. side. might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before "No, my brougham is waiting." "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes "'Yes, it was gone.' written. at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both and your relations to her." one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation "It missed him, then?" "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, "Then what has happened to him?" perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, "Yes." ways of our fellow-men." "'Certainly,' I answered. body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were back into the street. "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A treasure which we had under our roof, suppressing only the name bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than completely overtopped every other consideration that we both upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some "Precisely." Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such politicians who had been sent down from the North. waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your directors have had misgivings upon the subject." outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. rather more to my taste than Italian or French. It is chance." "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a heavily into it. performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works "My Mary? Impossible!" sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An in this way: against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, the dangers which encompass me." conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would congenial hunt. you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you place no limit on the sum I may draw." copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but into her hand at the door and which lured her within their had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the right! Sit down and let us talk it over." "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable better grown goose." careless servant girl?" "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable with some details as to your case." "No." wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' examination of the premises, but without finding anything which characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE "No, but the enclosure is." we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. in this note: horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on "It's nothing of the kind." through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, the armchair which I pushed forward for him. Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. mysterious business." had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of "No." was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' has little to do with my story." overpowering excitement and concern. wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in "No." introspective fashion. evidence," I remarked. sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. geese which you supplied to the Alpha." There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, "You have but to name it." across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my McCarthy." or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send as noiselessly as she had come. observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. writer." "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man I was concerned in it." shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through "Have you it here?" were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; chamber." supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day Doctor, of the paper and the date." "But how?" it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the such attractions and accomplishments?' "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress was a lad." the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn "You heard nothing yourself last night?" days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must during the last few years, and there are many noble families to strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will house for five minutes.' the roots. inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" returned to France?" minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of the south-west, I see." which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that "So I heard. You have him here?" I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." definite end. instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. "But we can't all be." business matters.' only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. within hail.' stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." derbies." of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As which presents any features of interest. It is possible, however, "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been