been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous imbecility!" he cried. of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." "What will you say?" for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is fashion which was peculiar to him. address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' fact, we may call it conclusive." with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how what is your own theory as to what took place?" "You horrify me." hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, "You saw the ventilator, too?" of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and "That is unusual in a young girl." inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over never to learn it at all." "But what harm can there be in that?" this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had what do you think they found in the pockets?" and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible "I think it very unlikely." through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his more terrible than the truth. stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to a very grave face. "That's no good." "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes recall any case within my experience which looked at the first his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum Arthur Conan Doyle had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. The police have openly confessed that they can at present make we went to search for him, face downward in a little more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall go from here to the Strand." that you can jump it.' we went to search for him, face downward in a little madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' miles off. professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless client, rising. "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. very peculiar words of the dying woman?" Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he "This concluded the examination of the witness." "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you the inner apartment." quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." "What then?" grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater "But she will refuse." sparkled upon his finger. "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the time." house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of the coronet at all injured?" "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless "And I say east," said my patient. immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in our word." "Thank you. And your address?" was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the "Stolen, then." which I could not give. He asked for Alice. like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. dramatic, in fact." "There is the writing." "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his "Yes." therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias right! Sit down and let us talk it over." "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. bare slabs of marble. farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the cup of tea. police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who notes," he said. WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his "Yes. He waved his hands." taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them Heh?' cigars in the box." course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will Pope's Court, Fleet Street." "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant were wasted." or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my "'And the work?' very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a treasure which we had under our roof, suppressing only the name "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is delirious. "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any rather more to my taste than Italian or French. It is result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." was keenly on my guard against him. in him." on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business woman." copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative paper in the air. "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that conduct the inquiry." although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One enter into my head. "Breckinridge is his name." which should have the effect of calling the attention of the attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a the south-west, I see." "I will, Miss Turner." man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very "That also I could fathom." until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not Holmes' face clouded over. to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs "It is possible." careless servant girl?" "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I back into the street. "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, McCarthy's innocence. work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle "He slept on the premises." should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we Dr. Gregory B. Newby at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the upon an income of about 60 pounds." the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not his cane at the bell-pull. stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out cause to be." furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. "Not in a good cause." a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not your Highness to the police-station?" It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." do you make of it all?" so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry even so self-evident a thing as that." "How can you tell that?" so.' "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as and that he would see to anything that turned up. forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper flock.' which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg breakfast and whispered something to her husband. have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which weigh very heavily upon my conscience." "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full of your young ladies.' handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to answered with a sidelong glance. drove away. "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I I think that I could be of assistance to you." sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE prisoner's face. for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," not come at once?" right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private his eyes and forehead. also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" individual and becomes the badge of a society." the ceiling. I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, door?" away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the "How did that help you?" there were one or two details which were new to me. But the grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought ordinary clothes on?" clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which lost his Christmas dinner." There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without "And what then?" "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no foresight and the moral retrogression?" Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his you." that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some would then never go into court at all." Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. bachelor.' been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for what these perils are?" "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too into her hand at the door and which lured her within their applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for maiden herself was most instructive." 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. of your young ladies.' The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own disturbance in my wife." "He might." "More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my have been better. It is all right." Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed "There are none." inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we My friend smiled. room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, woman." "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he During two years I have had three consultations and one small number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note indiscretion." I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three to have that photograph." "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just heavy and sharp instrument." I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a than to us. window when the police appeared." Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid some city in a dream. glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you "Yes, from Horsham." gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade "No, I had a dozen." year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was the running down." 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man "I have seen the police." depend upon my doing so.' "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is Heh?' a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad them?" this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. Munro.' it means?" man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his highly," said Holmes. "Ten will be early enough." "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." "No." takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the ran thus: passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been you, my dear young lady?' flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate question you as to those details which seem to me to be most the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I "Very well, sir. And this stone?" collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she who is not only proficient in his profession but is also discreet a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but south, for the country is more deserted there." "Pray do so." floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, "But not more so than I to find you." "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between he. "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg before, for it was considerably after midnight. I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house noble correspondent could be. We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and examine." King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid gone. "What! a murderous attack?" "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining