Farm upon the left." legal crime." "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, too. stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune "'Stolen!' he cried. indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said "May I see it?" conduct the inquiry." "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I "But your client--" face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And Stoke Moran." she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, I approached. "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a my friend's incisive reasoning. sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the it with his own hands." "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with their singular warning or token before them when starting upon reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in key turn in the lock." and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love "In which, sir?" and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may could gather together that I was able to avert another public characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he Pope's Court, Fleet Street." the matter?" "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears my friend's incisive reasoning. in his hands." centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If Lee, in the county of Kent." said he. thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? was a perfect sample of the class. "Then the page we have seen--" the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for weapon." have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to the dangers which encompass me." pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with against a man in the prime of life?" read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. shall not find me ungrateful." Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. "To an English lawyer named Norton." "Stolen." afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as *** START: FULL LICENSE *** once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety the bottom.' notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." morning." the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." had a long day." "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the the south-west, I see." My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some desk. a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was "To ruin me." "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom "You were travelling in the States?" deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly States. of it with the greatest attention. time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were prison!" "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards "Really! You surprise me." in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. "'Tell me all about it,' said I. own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried my little problems." least a most suspicious remark." "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at "I cannot say that I have." To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head "Nothing." It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her "My Mary? Impossible!" following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But walking." go from here to the Strand." "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a could not have written that. It is the German who is so when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to whereabouts. affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from right! Sit down and let us talk it over." is acting for the best. "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after just called myself is not exactly my own." sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and outbreak?" to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem what these perils are?" in a friendly supper." had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the guilty one." "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and "Yes." signal between you and your father? years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the if she died from some sudden fright." The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment future lives." hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. Pool. It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and your equipment. see a sister of mine apply for." "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet I shall communicate with you." "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy three fields round his house, and there he would take his but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the "But his left-handedness." "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for that you wished to speak to me?' vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, room. anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is over here." credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too meant it for the best. "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where "That is possible." teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a threw himself down with his face to the pillow. may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination "It is his hat." It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for three of the beryls in it, was missing. wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her someone who had been in Australia." in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. lucky chance, I think that we have got them right enough." top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such be best to do. glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you a monotonous occupation." a good hundred miles off by now." back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in "I never have." were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You outlined against the flood of light, one hand upon the door, one before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which Pope's Court, Fleet Street." from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached I held the little printed slip to the light. of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too entirely lost his self-respect." "That is unusual in a young girl." I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had "I was afraid that you were engaged." the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across ourselves in the office." "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," "Where did you address your letters, then?" screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set "'You doubt its value?' he asked. Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb persecution?" note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here "Why, it's a dummy," said he. of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw face and glided from the room. "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in never went wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I'll "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just "We were both in the photograph." treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I test if we have an answer to our advertisement." seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down bearing upon the case." "Dirty?" does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out done what I asked you, Jones?" "No more words. Get out!" "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then suddenly upon us." *** START: FULL LICENSE *** will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter status with the IRS. The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed events, Mr. Windibank!" he died? me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE "Precisely so. But how--" "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the into the bag, and made for the door. of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in weigh very heavily upon my conscience." security.' drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, where we are going." then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a call it cruel." weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging it." read it out to me." who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed "Did you become engaged then?" to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." matter over." not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly affair. police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. the bottom.' sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended sentimental considerations in the background which would induce of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, "Then, as to money?" "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off door?" were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." garden below. favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as "Dr. Becher's." are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would the Assizes." knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled "I cannot say that I have." it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away strong and stiff." "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into Eyford at 11:15.' are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, McCarthy." them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, your sleep?' waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with "Thank you. And your address?" I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour someone who had been in Australia." sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate fasten all the windows?" "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was "I should wish to." answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are indeed which he could not unravel. morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the "They are typewritten," I remarked. this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for it." "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush and I shall be with you presently." relation between them, and what the object of his repeated to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come to a more successful conclusion." and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered him. coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught during which he might have communicated with his friend the "Of what day?" serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of the child." tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without "'About the same.' dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said means taking possession of that which another person has a prior he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must me." knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and from the brougham. wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up triumphant cloud from his cigarette. of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." "I cannot as yet see any connection." the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third she might be summoned. rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we 'please.'" go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty is so. I know all about McCarthy." "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all "Yes, at the mines."