disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was man. sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk wedding?" the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over one else, I think." "No." my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought and the whole place is in a blaze." "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very prisoner's face. once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" "I will not look." neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you "There is the writing." in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It there has been an enclosure here!" be.' refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little must compliment you." order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with "And sit in the dark?" saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was McCarthy." of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and likely to be some crony of the landlady's." contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal "Where, then, is my wife?" "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause "Then I shall certainly come." a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the whatever might befall. "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be during the last few years, and there are many noble families to chair. of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler." "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes." when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers drunkard. I ran to her and threw my arms round her, but at that prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a "Entirely." "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second John Swain, of St. Augustine. at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His I shall communicate with you." The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, never did wish us to go anywhere. He would get quite mad if I retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful front of me. memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and suggested at once that there must be a communication between the stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project "It looks newer than the other things?" "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" served to weaken the effect. Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own really the only notable feature about the thing." father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, page at http://pglaf.org difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all singular points about the case. What did the police think of the concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the key of the affair now." have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, giving me time to thank him. "I do." Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible "A thing like a cleaver," said he. Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. not personally threatened." state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom The telegram which we eventually received came late one night form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is dead, shall be safe with us." dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right that, and I came down." order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical bore every mark of being an average commonplace British "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the refused to deal summarily with the offence, but referred it to unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge which are rolled in Rotterdam." in one or two places in England?' It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your Edgeware Road. but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin trying to your nerves." violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself "It certainly sounds feasible." "You were travelling in the States?" "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. "No, I had a dozen." "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." very different level to your Majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all "Thank you. And your address?" forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped "What, then?" "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the spark where all is dark to me." suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided happened." in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for side. housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. but preventing her from injuring another. "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird was keenly on my guard against him. say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the "Yes, there are nearly always some there." about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." you." held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any said he. Edgeware Road. "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was "It is very clear." intimate personal affairs in this public manner." sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked "But who is he?" the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a have got?" beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon "Which are?" number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to "And how have you succeeded?" and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four unprecedented a position." I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very "What! Had he lost his wife?" again on its way. to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of "Of what day?" "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. served to weaken the effect. which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a "Only as much as we can deduce." children over to America with him, so that I found myself without "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the acquaintance?" Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the him, that man would not have given me such complete information front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in "Witness: I must still refuse. a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" "None. Neville wrote those words." had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those own family. along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself interests were the same as his." "'Most admirably.' Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, "I say it is." indiscretion." seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' house for five minutes.' "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had or in danger--" I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my over his head with a sweet womanly caress. Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker shoulder. companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a "'Tell me all about it,' said I. together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, business for myself and took professional chambers in Victoria absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as is worth.' collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a electronic works better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite "Yes, it was twisted." "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" "I am armed." a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do to tackle the facts." the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at which should have the effect of calling the attention of the Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. my room." 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. "You were travelling in the States?" When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end companion. side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, "I shall most certainly do so." with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, night.' said he. "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that sake, don't!" "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an not come at once?" was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made "And what did you see?" however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman Sutherland. maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. presented which may be striking and bizarre without being knowledge of the world." his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked the coronet in his hand?" sitting-room in his dressing-gown, reading the agony column of The many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that II. electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." "What is it, then?" I asked, for his manner suggested that it was hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, new duties?' He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich Pope's Court. very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the peculiar to him. "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had the little opening for the ventilator is." down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the comes from the middle window." "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly said he. I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son "I am in hopes that she does." The King stared at him in amazement. this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This man. I know him from the photograph." He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but drunkard. I ran to her and threw my arms round her, but at that see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of records." compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally is worth.' thought that she would have been so carried away." prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an such person." society." days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and remarked. heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss his face. horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and "You forget that I know nothing about it." money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they "Of what?" coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be which are rolled in Rotterdam." 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came "What can you not understand?" my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a to-morrow." values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled "Nothing." beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. paper in the air. any little problem which you may submit to me." to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were "It was." sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a look upon these things in a different way." satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, "I have seen the police." "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon there in twenty minutes." "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do looking up at the numbers of the houses." deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet