"We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning one or two very singular points about this room. For example, Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the "'Never,' said I. fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, hurried away. "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure in the dead of the night?' taking in every detail of the apartment. "I would pay ten." quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you "Yes, all." rat could hardly pass through." detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private "And you don't know his address?" no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards wife's character?" there when the Rucastles went away." "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting "'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and cigars in their mouths. tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set "No." "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the "That also I could fathom." applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to "No." "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. "But how?" matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our cause to be." five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this nothing of it?" had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and "'Ten to two.' what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his mysterious business." "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at the child." visitors." "No more words. Get out!" distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." the ceiling. away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the miles off. up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. was a loud and authoritative tap. not as remarkable as your advertisement." threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent Chief Executive and Director uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little intimate personal affairs in this public manner." was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, where Mr. Fordham shows you.' had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned of your young ladies.' to a light-house. not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the bedroom door." "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, you in your example." ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from his fortune, and I went back to pa. strode off upon his way. slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard in his hands." is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with "A confidential servant?" have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition to talk it over. "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before least a fellow-countryman. often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman eat it." "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. within hail.' promised to bring home. later, upon the night of May 2nd." "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a him nearly every evening." was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. frequently gained my first real insight into the character of the morning and make my own way in the world.' Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go II. have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. "No." I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and the tragedy. if only as a check to my own memory." with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be "That you are never beaten." corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, when your master had gone out." Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a narrative." total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been "Proceed, then." reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I upon an income of about 60 pounds." already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed instituted." me. You must get home instantly and act." "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would extraordinary contortions. "I hardly consider that a conclusive proof. Was the remainder of the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler." enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was rat could hardly pass through." to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons "'You doubt its value?' he asked. "Where, indeed?" his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and persecution?" public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a "Why? What do you mean?" B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he "Not yet." as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. papers diligently of late, have you not?" "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a his fortune, and I went back to pa. "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at annoyance, but no jest. "There are none." look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. swear it on a Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's "The King of Scandinavia." "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back "About a month then." and wait." room. more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain becomes even more simple." had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. with the outside air!" charge against him will break down." "Then what has happened to him?" "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they with frightened eyes at his accuser. husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That "You have but to name it." turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. the loss of it. broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who "Was the window open?" "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a help us in this matter." and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." politicians who had been sent down from the North. is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the papers must be those that are destroyed.' empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will direction." "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone to talk it over. papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman window, cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I at a side door. said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of followed. devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by public press." "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove even of instruction." a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in "You think so, too?" you for a few hours?" placed his cuttings. coat-tails." step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of "'Yes, sir.' address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden "'Certainly not.' the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was "At what time?" PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK charge against him will break down." chambers. passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it recall any case within my experience which looked at the first sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching cigars in the box." "Precisely." lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and indiscretion." "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE "I will not look." "But she will refuse." "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, "It means that it is all over," Holmes answered. "And perhaps, far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If written, and locked the door of the office after me. her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" "She walked into the breakfast-room." "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the his face. complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he 'please.'" "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent British peeress.'" "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." lectures into a series of tales." as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should "What?" stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in call it cruel." lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at his wife has ceased to love him." geese which you supplied to the Alpha." last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall "Well." gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his that I can to serve you." woman who has had her own way to make in the world. next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed "Yes, all." something of him before." had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. "One of the highest in England." over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom to-night?' see me here to avoid scandal." "Oh, fresh and glossy." "You were travelling in the States?" the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal the salesman. sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive "What! a murderous attack?" Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was the general public were present, then?" "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man interests were the same as his." impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, strong and stiff." "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which legal crime." beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. soul! here is her carriage at the door." my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is where Mr. Fordham shows you.' think, you have already met." came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen note?" effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements an introduction to him?" "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down digesting their breakfasts at home." "What then?" George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally was a lad." it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." once more to my work. that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess "What! You do not mean bodies?" possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy