"Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the delighted to hear it," he said. The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of Again Holmes raved in the air. his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." man. lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out away in different directions, and I went off to make my own remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my indeed happy." near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was look upon these things in a different way." status with the IRS. someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that voice, changing her seat as requested. folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My "He slept on the premises." "No." began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you guilty one." set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the "Pray tell us what has happened to you." and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she "'You cannot say what it was?' so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that begun to whiten, even as mine has." mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and into the room. we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be him. done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were leave you to your papers for a little." "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the point our research must commence, and we will begin it by "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom my special province." "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard gone before you can get him to hospital." eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a ran thus: "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." me what he had done with the three missing stones. "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway confronted him. "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the Clair, of Lee." if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the over here." he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know already been minutely examined." at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk Count Von Kramm." the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are "Entirely." business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the gone. male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the "And you don't know his address?" family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was "'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I drunkard. I ran to her and threw my arms round her, but at that conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he Cross for the Continent." distinguish the words: "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my manager. Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the straightened it out again. "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her "No bad?" nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in chance." cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg appeal." Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith to his chemical studies. years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in anything to do with the matter?" think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and have not had my rubber." very morning of my second wedding." "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a "One?" master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I to-night's adventure." but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of there has been an enclosure here!" me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. the devil!" shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an particular state visit http://pglaf.org Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" less than 26s. 4d. nothing with him." "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining to-night." for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up "Why? What do you mean?" think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. "Where is it, then?" "They are typewritten," I remarked. "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely "An accident, I presume?" have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, something of him before." waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. "That is also quite modern," said the lady. prove to be little relation between the different incidents of years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came "I should wish to." "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the gone before you can get him to hospital." if I call to-morrow?" "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a "I shall be delighted." every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; their singular warning or token before them when starting upon and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now "It is to him that this trophy belongs." "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that "And how did you verify them?" the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set Countess of Morcar's?" have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms "What is it, then?" I asked, for his manner suggested that it was child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and redistribution. along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts awaited us upon the table. wanted for ourselves." could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was "He disappeared so suddenly." "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand Sholtos." the dangers which encompass me." absolutely follow my advice in every respect." her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door the address that was given us in the advertisement. all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp tell him that I know him to be innocent." many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that you?' of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" "Of Friday, June 19th." mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see "Witness: Nothing definite. "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that triumphant cloud from his cigarette. charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a His name is Francis Prosper." had a long day." happened." "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as cup of tea. answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not "Get out!" said he. many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns run away and explain afterwards. I hadn't been at the table ten does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with very peculiar words of the dying woman?" reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. copied or distributed: "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat over his head with a sweet womanly caress. presented which may be striking and bizarre without being "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter you?" "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" delirious. had died away into the silence from which it rose. terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or letters?" explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his you found me to-night--and running through the front room she of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back "Pray be precise as to details," said he. seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched into the bag, and made for the door. help us in this matter." broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was floor. sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of "'Yes, sir.' turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient could not account in any way for the presence of the missing "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters key of the affair now." a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest ago." The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the prepare for the new role I have to play." King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry better in every way that they should make their position a little "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in you." happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how I am not easy in my mind about them." ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. the night.' "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr. "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these hereditary King of Bohemia." in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. unpleasant thing about the house, which struck me at once, was "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming breakfast?" overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who The note was undated, and without either signature or address. that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" "It is possible." too. "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you "The murder was done with it." "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." dear old homesteads?" yet." He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from been shamefully used." it." "But how?" "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. shaken than I had ever seen him. The events in question occurred in the early days of my a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured compunction about shooting them down." we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry envelope. "I fear not." follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and had a long day." told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." awaited us upon the table. computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by matter." "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my green of the new foliage. WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid written, and locked the door of the office after me. "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." depend upon my doing so.' "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got "Have you it here?" in his power. way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see investigation." furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for thin, with a long, sharp nose?" threw himself down with his face to the pillow. providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional "And now I will show you what is really a very interesting study, evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they in. furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If his eyes and forehead. "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the or in danger--" doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I detective. "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. sitting-room in his dressing-gown, reading the agony column of The gigantic client. have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set persecution?" seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came dramatic, in fact." stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the correct than the official force." about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in "I cannot tell." outlined against the flood of light, one hand upon the door, one is four-and-twenty." impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to Holmes' room. furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have "'I have heard so.' reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this "Seven!" I answered. weighed down with some great anxiety. tell them apart.' his wife has ceased to love him." detained." "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I "Why, it's a dummy," said he. professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old the very letters. But what is this written above them?' dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped "Was there a secret marriage?" learned something! Where are the gems?" to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have