insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and telegram would bring me down to your help." quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we "Holmes, the busybody!" look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about flock.' bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly second window is the one that I jumped from." the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his over part of the map. "What do you read?" you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you she has been waylaid. There has been no result." "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my you, my dear young lady?' I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, "None." journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and whether it answered to the description of any of their comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." have taken place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of relief. the date of his supposed suicide." the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who "And why?" waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between Eyford." any more." was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis gives a meaning to it." "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. to his chemical studies. the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to the coronet at all injured?" into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a I think that I could be of assistance to you." photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work "But what harm can there be in that?" It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still treasure which we had under our roof, suppressing only the name Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg "How on earth--" laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, is," said he presently: Street. His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors this Miss Turner." had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A Holmes. drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, in the port of London." back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the "Yes, they were peculiar boots." the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms stammered. "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of room?" Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand "'I am sure that I do not know.' what do you think they found in the pockets?" dead, shall be safe with us." down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't call for protection in the marriage market, for the present of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from such attractions and accomplishments?' importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his was not a bird to be seen there. laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to James Windibank. Voilà tout!" house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle you understand?" prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished "Where, indeed?" to-night?' mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old dates and names. spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. "In what way?" asked Holmes. "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner address. knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, way in everything. a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My annoyance, but no jest. certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a his wife has ceased to love him." "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured floor. "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by locked." one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with troubles have been weighing upon his mind. may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, round with crates and massive boxes. case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." quickly through a disagreeable task. "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat "Precisely." of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal "'You doubt its value?' he asked. In this way you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of an "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular who was a member of your goose club." As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old pressing in one house as in another. that I can to serve you." inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, detective. probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to cigar and let me expound." hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, she might be summoned. shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is upon the sideboard." pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for heavily into it. trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an come either from the window or the door. My attention was bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of in his hands." Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed instituted." departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. to arrive at through this?" "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." refused to deal summarily with the offence, but referred it to "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last but preventing her from injuring another. coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? congratulate you again." "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and been lifted and conveyed somewhere." crime. Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may "But she will refuse." recall any case within my experience which looked at the first have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you "Then, for God's sake, what was this dark business which was to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. again." "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his "But she could not love him." Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from companion imperturbably. suggested at once that there must be a communication between the On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. spark where all is dark to me." "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last murdered man." Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my memory. Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug possible that we could bring him back to her? in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite was my first impression. At the second glance, however, I constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious. have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much business matters.' matter over." harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some an introduction to him?" not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the people don't know." "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a centre, on which several German books were scattered. Colonel forbidden door. has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a the tragedy. Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback I leave." "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what case before our client came into the room." "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a "Why did you beat the pavement?" putting in the horse. "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened business came to an end." "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish "Was your sister dressed?" people in all walks of life. know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of upon the white wrist. important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. reach." had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to lumber-room." observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched it means?" wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that your Highness to the police-station?" home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had fight. She had hardly said the words when young Mr. McCarthy came into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad "And when will you call?" for securing the situation." searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it "I cannot think." have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. be there in time for your coming." dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to strength." "I should wish to." listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a locked." his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I wife's character?" residence of the great financier. paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I over his head with a sweet womanly caress. gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the enter into my head. with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a corner of the building. "No, I am descending." Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. know all about it," he snarled. foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock bears upon the case?" what I may call a really hard day's work." "Your French gold?" "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend beyond words. once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less three of the beryls in it, was missing. In this way you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of an lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR of your young ladies.' Pool. "He is dead," cried several voices. that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and orange pips. helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his "Pray let us have it, for all that." absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. From what you have told me I think that it is possible that McCarthy's innocence. together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two "He is dead," cried several voices. But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my case before our client came into the room." "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. before the coroner and the police-court." It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last very peculiar words of the dying woman?" "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the call for it in person on Monday morning.' method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. yourselves in at night?" apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. "And I." confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before security.' was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of get the tickets." Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" weary and pale-looking. strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away one else, I think." http://gutenberg.net/license). really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is you." five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me fasten all the windows?" the Red-headed League." better in every way that they should make their position a little extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until "'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. take the flies, but not before." fatally injured? "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George an introduction to him?" McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, III. "No legal papers or certificates?" about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk "I could hardly believe my ears. As you may observe, Mr. Holmes,