"Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of walking." down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" "It came here." man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him "To an end?" shoulder. "None." daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes his knees, staring into the fire. do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. and your relations to her." business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say "No sign of it?" towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say was feeling which was the fattest.' "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your "And the cigar-holder?" akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of most important business. It is probable that he will be away all "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the stood on the top of it. wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, Surrey." here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from "'How far from the body?' located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her a room. "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted "Thank you. And your address?" the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House "I am following you closely," I answered. isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the light and attacked it." wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. "There are none." comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just matters immensely." very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a and no precautions can guard against." "Your sister is dead, then?" thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of about. asked. "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." clanging. notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just in darkness. "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, "Where did he live, then?" inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out nothing of it?" correct than the official force." the house with me." had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own "Nor running a chance of arrest?" "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a some city in a dream. learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so furiously. I approached. slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and girl said." firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a The note was undated, and without either signature or address. from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in that I am arrested." withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to companion. "Yes, there are nearly always some there." "So I heard. You have him here?" myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my to have been novel and of interest." "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of just called myself is not exactly my own." "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the sit on the left-hand side of the driver." of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the "And the murderer?" case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by there were one or two details which were new to me. But the "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the "Tired-looking or fresh?" when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." "She told me to ask you." wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, should be taken.' threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were "Texas, I think." the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your emerged. "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is the morning and make my own way in the world.' straighten it?" THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. this man was intellectual?" active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley chemical work which was so dear to him. "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have bearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very death." "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its think that any burglar could have done. broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, strange features which were associated with the two crimes which exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, to Leatherhead. from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having good-night and bustled off upon her way. carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was lamp. distance from the station, and there we found the young lady be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and it." corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply chill to my heart. what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly morning." "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign "Yes." said he at last. did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the green of the new foliage. of his shoulders. points in connection with it which never have been, and probably stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all "And Irene Adler?" reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story returned to France?" poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely "He said too much." points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited you in your example." "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet was keenly on my guard against him. The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in "I cannot imagine." "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were "Witness: I must still refuse. asked. impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose "One?" "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** Watson," he said cordially. "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. look dissatisfied." swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped astonishment. right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It some place of shelter and let the county police know what has "Dark enough and sinister enough." "Who was the criminal, then?" gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" lost nothing by them." business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light "Game for a morning drive?" was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. "Stoke Moran?" said he. Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I you in yours." "I am still in the dark." McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" which are rolled in Rotterdam." "I fear not." the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of "He slept on the premises." metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready noise which awoke you from your sleep?" his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. call for protection in the marriage market, for the present "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered Mr. Hatherley," said he. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in bird I ate is country bred." I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police south, for the country is more deserted there." For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well sentimental considerations in the background which would induce calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as "I have hopes." jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I the address that was given us in the advertisement. as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a I. "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I 1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. "Never." VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but as yours." wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official of Mr. Rucastle's." got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through IS Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of "Perhaps we may make them less so." McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. "There is the writing." behind me. "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an out." "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the extraordinary contortions. as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an grasp, he hurried from the room. "And for present expenses?" "'Certainly not. But why?' It may be so in this case, also." should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net "Indeed, Doctor," said Holmes blandly. "Pray take a seat." building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the "Married! When?" "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the "Were they all fastened this morning?" league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some "Yes." about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did The telegram which we eventually received came late one night murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess ventilator." master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, "One of his hands." "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets for and were ordered to this address. disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at drunkard. I ran to her and threw my arms round her, but at that which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen "Why did you pick him?" the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a "It is very kind of you." house for five minutes.' any." "This photograph!" own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as "Very murderous indeed." "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the shaken than I had ever seen him. the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the "You'll never persuade me to believe that." had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own "On Monday." "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as