scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be II. "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I "And it is--" before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and was not a bird to be seen there. by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. habit of advancing money.' "I have a cab outside." week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case have accepted such a situation. idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a "What office?" "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the "How do you know, then?" when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. with her." the very letters. But what is this written above them?' with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there "Why? What do you mean?" If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the "What I expected to see." you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me Serpentine Avenue. permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, like that before?" and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to But Holmes shook his head gravely. Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over train from Paddington which would bring you there at about ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen, "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to II. felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only spark where all is dark to me." analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the rest is familiar to you. I am much indebted to you, sir, for a ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that place, I think that there is good ground to think that the of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about quarrel broke out, which was increased by the two guardsmen, who "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be bearing upon the case." black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man. His commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door any." grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both down from London to inquire more deeply into it." hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems "I don't say that. Perhaps." landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it "No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking fish-monger and a tide-waiter." on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to "And you can do nothing until then?" "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in "Nothing?" "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was gentleman's clothes. had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of "I will try. What is it?" somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the written, and locked the door of the office after me. washing it down with a long draught of water. We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian tassel actually lying upon the pillow. been deceived." "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true run away and explain afterwards. I hadn't been at the table ten "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it ways including including checks, online payments and credit card enter into my head. several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." occupations.' floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven colonel looking down at me. receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not empty. neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of I nodded to show that I had heard. devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take "Your French gold?" and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil as he folded up the epistle. silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. "You have a clue?" with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. companion quietly. "If I can be of use." behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when "She showed me, as I told you she would." Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to knowledge of the world." "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been bird I ate is country bred." unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the "To an English lawyer named Norton." "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, "Dr. Becher's." not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor man. I know him from the photograph." "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able some city in a dream. possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a away in different directions, and I went off to make my own "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which was not a bird to be seen there. which presents any features of interest. It is possible, however, "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips orange pips. face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking there when the Rucastles went away." "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she details should find their way into the papers. Inspector we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big posted to-day." "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his "No legal papers or certificates?" children over to America with him, so that I found myself without poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I papers." address. afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. or other trace. But how on earth--" glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is than to us. in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the writers could invent nothing more crude." explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, "I have come for advice." when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. "No, I am descending." lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, me. You must get home instantly and act." prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed the window, rose as we entered. "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. tell him that I know him to be innocent." works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you generous with you in money matters.' that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge long narrative. outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use "Yes, they were peculiar boots." "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very "I saw her in conversation with her maid." "It is true that I have been generally successful." but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was him to be an active member of the medical profession." and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to room had already been engaged for us. "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who key of the affair now." wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her floor. accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had The events in question occurred in the early days of my "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." "'Never.' days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each views." desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take depend upon your compliance." "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he purpose of examination. know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and children over to America with him, so that I found myself without story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has "I do." "No, distinctly professional." strength in the others." would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" any assistance, either to you or to my friend here, I shall be are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the populous neighbourhood." you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position said I. present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the man. We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against Henry Baker is a member." - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to that he was averse to a marriage with so charming a young lady as window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took tell me that you intended to go into harness." "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep "Precisely." "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." which should have the effect of calling the attention of the partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of "What do you make of that, Watson?" "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg "I would give my fortune to have them back." other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** "Not yet." thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote "No." "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies directors, with the result that you have seen." would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of "And that is--" "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be "Nothing?" 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his to-night's adventure." hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You "10th. John Swain cleared. are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her "'You cannot say what it was?' particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside Mary, has deserted me." Street. "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. during which he might have communicated with his friend the see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." gigantic client. "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the young Openshaw's." horse could go." said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at to some other building. anything to do with the matter?" seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. these very carefully from seven or eight different points, Holmes all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has posted to-day." chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose "It must be recovered." "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after of the way of danger. Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but records." "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is a very grave face. the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what not fit the lock." "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and it." cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," in the dead of the night?' "Then you may be so with me." stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his bore every mark of being an average commonplace British sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the "Well, at least," said Holmes, "you have had your revenge upon my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler "Well, some hundreds of times." interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside completely overtopped every other consideration that we both broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor What do you deduce from it?" ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, presume?" "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body "Dr. Becher's." dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their was it brought him the coronet? to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, "Yes, I have one waiting." open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" "They are typewritten," I remarked. I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had public press." "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very promised to bring home. Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it about. point our research must commence, and we will begin it by and the whole place is in a blaze." "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so "What is it, then--a fire?" "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was said I. breakfast?" Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an whatever might befall. St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is "Why, it's a dummy," said he. course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest than was visible to me." When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three begun to whiten, even as mine has." "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not "Stolen, then." coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to "Why? What do you mean?" as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy,