attention." "Why did you pick him?" piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as "But you can know nothing of this?" "You have done wisely," said my friend. "But have you told me all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, the nursery. "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to "You horrify me!" is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and "Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly, the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the "Never to return." the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few pressing in one house as in another. abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's used to be." "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their several quiet little villages up there." the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in man. We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought the very letters. But what is this written above them?' had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he "Pray be precise as to details," said he. Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I the driver. mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal becomes even more simple." "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of to have been novel and of interest." thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been "What do you mean?" Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I easy-going way." out of this horrible affair." corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a it." begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." once more. and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with bachelor.' clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will "Look there!" said he. been shamefully used." passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" opened the door, and slipped through. His name is Francis Prosper." a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low "What are they?" Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied. and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the weary and pale-looking. the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the some water from a caraffe. cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself some terrible trap for her." "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." "'What would be the hours?' I asked. morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him to Leatherhead. with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project "Yes, he did." head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to "One?" possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might "I should wish to." reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is McCarthy." your troubles." fire. You quite follow me?" laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you have I gained?" "The landlord of the Alpha." "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the highroad, where all traces were lost. "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about singular points about the case. What did the police think of the the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat derbies." scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own attention." tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your "Frequently." hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She the station." into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the ways of our fellow-men." "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone swear it on a Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. enough to aid us in our search." direction." "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to during which he might have communicated with his friend the Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you I took the paper from him and read as follows: bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" "No, thank goodness, she did not." submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the "You have but to name it." unclasping of his long thin hands. as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall Leadenhall Street--and--" but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the Mrs. Toller serenely. "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what interest. They are important, you understand, without being congenial hunt. prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident whatever might befall. that As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." Henry Baker is a member." "She showed me, as I told you she would." which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his he bowed and left the room without another word. cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the 1.F. "So I heard. You have him here?" "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all forehead. lamp. "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about side. inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as to-night?' eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a it means?" doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we eavesdroppers?' think, you have already met." a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last said I. paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to "Where, then?" "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is "Why, what do you mean?" and the whole place is in a blaze." that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to as this. Pray let me have the details." eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see My friend smiled. Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss happened." there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass "And now I will show you what is really a very interesting study, see a sister of mine apply for." case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had "It is very clear." "Won't it ring?" in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads quick march!" trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a "'I am sure if I had known--' given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm himself to hunt down. had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for standing smiling on the door-step. to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this quite distinctive." them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, all that?" the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler papers must be those that are destroyed.' the little opening for the ventilator is." warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg she might be summoned. where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, "My own seal." should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the with you?" here." something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A down from London to inquire more deeply into it." whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. "What then?" "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about the room while you explain this matter?" effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the "No." leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right prepare for the new role I have to play." and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of "It is very kind of you." If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" "No." has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that "What of the rat, then?" with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the his knees, staring into the fire. public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a depend upon my doing so.' "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his awkward doing business with an alias." man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it himself to hunt down. "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary married her." companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which companion. room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, here and I will read it to you: sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had "I know where it is." once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a delirious. to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall "'What would be the hours?' I asked. "Then the page we have seen--" and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are he bowed and left the room without another word. where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror in this note: infinite languor in his face. "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back Street. Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few existence." remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his chemical work which was so dear to him. see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some "And now I will show you what is really a very interesting study, for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." it with his own hands." The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing "I have my revolver," said I. dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just "It is half-past ten now." "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a a suggestive one." had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which galvanised. stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project guilty one." this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the power." forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be ourselves in the office." of them has the shutters up.' the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened Lestrade of Scotland Yard." inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have if I call to-morrow?" one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to "It is a murder, then?" reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon Have you good authority for what you say?" there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue bore every mark of being an average commonplace British their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came one of the states of the Union." her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for entirely devoid of interest." "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable was keenly on my guard against him. at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My strength in the others." "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight it were putty." bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, "You have compromised yourself seriously." burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows What do you deduce from it?" grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, fact, we may call it conclusive." knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled Dr. Gregory B. Newby who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." be. preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I "My Mary? Impossible!" "I cannot as yet see any connection." Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want it." real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for in one or two places in England?' "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he "He disappeared so suddenly." forbidden door. allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let