"The least sound would be fatal to our plans." Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it into her hand at the door and which lured her within their and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones leave you to your papers for a little." present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical giving me time to thank him. are, I think, all that we need." named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; back alive. access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked "Entirely." With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't It was close upon four before the door opened, and a Shall be glad if you will come with me. Air and scenery perfect. companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the "What steps will you take?" I asked. the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; "And now?" I asked. thought that she would have been so carried away." and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever closing the door. photograph?" which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an perplexity from it to my illustrious client. "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the observed. is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since daring than any effort of the imagination." to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must bears upon the case?" even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may was shining brightly. passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus "It was a confession," I ejaculated. defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes." particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an exactly what you advise." side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most done what I asked you, Jones?" the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a Holmes' room. something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was telegram would bring me down to your help." "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of fish-monger and a tide-waiter." "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector "Did you observe the colour?" window when the police appeared." was it brought him the coronet? all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he plantation.' thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, derbies." "You have carte blanche." clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing most important business. It is probable that he will be away all to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which Shall be glad if you will come with me. Air and scenery perfect. but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On "Quite so. She has her freedom." of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have "'What do you call purely nominal?' "My last client of the sort was a king." Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" during that time.' hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might because she had spent so short a time in this country that she glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it silent! Oh, he will be silent!' drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of I took the paper from him and read as follows: wedding?" have one." thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few his cane at the bell-pull. "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." "From his hat?" gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie "Pray tell us what has happened to you." and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to "It is very clear." surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would "'Why that?' I asks. "Precisely so. But how--" "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been "But she could not love him." such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, chance." of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." "It is possible." generous with you in money matters.' Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and geese which you supplied to the Alpha." "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." felt?" lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey dead, shall be safe with us." "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe me. You must get home instantly and act." Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. handed it to him. there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," "It means that it is all over," Holmes answered. "And perhaps, "But she will refuse." most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of himself to hunt down. without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the Leadenhall Street--and--" desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my my little problems." closely." "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing over with notes and figures. "Yes." The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new "Then I do not see the point." "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his "Yes." eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" "Why did you beat the pavement?" should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that locked. Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where than was visible to me." was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and "'Never,' said I. arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." along the entire front of the house, with three long windows "Very well, sir. And this stone?" London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are upon an income of about 60 pounds." the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. "Yes, they were peculiar boots." mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. "I promise," said Holmes. a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was "My stepfather's business papers." providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over "Where, then?" some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, you understand?" at my remark. but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking of note-paper. It read in this fashion: which it had come upon my father." astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he him and tried to hold him back. warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." his huge brown hands. "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your "You know me, then?" in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the over here." to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." "But the mystery?" ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss she to prove their authenticity?" greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I became a certainty. "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to "It is very clear." time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, wall." "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit said he. reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of "It is half-past ten now." "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I to affect your life." Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean "But you have hopes?" extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in keep the flames under. photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but like that before?" that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in fight. She had hardly said the words when young Mr. McCarthy came "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow dear old homesteads?" had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and "'As governess?' branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no away in different directions, and I went off to make my own and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that His name is Francis Prosper." with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the Arthur Conan Doyle The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, "Her father is very rich?" did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most is worth.' "And how did you verify them?" abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom these bleak autumnal evenings." "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to minor matters until to-morrow." "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project "Of Friday, June 19th." closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It "I was mad--insane." one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a we went to search for him, face downward in a little forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! mystery." abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable that before taking the final step I should like to submit the realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at at my own good fortune. for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own "But he might be a bachelor." Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I "But she will refuse." "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project respectable self." I am not easy in my mind about them." o'clock is it?" quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads "Of what day?" You want to know what became of those geese?" Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, "You horrify me!" "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his "In answer to an advertisement." dear old homesteads?" His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and likely to be some crony of the landlady's." it." elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You "Oh, yes, easily." and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a "Pray do so." do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all "In answer to an advertisement." "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. any little problem which you may submit to me." suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman official police, but it is not pleasant to have a family "A greater distance to travel." questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank "'Why that?' I asks. "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. in your London, you will know that the office of the company is copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, later, upon the night of May 2nd." the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, "I think that I had better go, Holmes." his grey eyes. clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless in a very precise fashion." bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I papers." the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands gbnewby@pglaf.org fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may other lovers by making love himself." so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, cigars in the box." "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save "Why? What do you mean?" "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. forebodings. and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The for its centre. searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: absorbing." finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for before the coroner and the police-court." in your London, you will know that the office of the company is Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen Gutenberg-tm License. managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, young Openshaw's." face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out "Certainly."