John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of correct than the official force." man. I know him from the photograph." of his shoulders. "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a chance." or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his his huge brown hands. "It is possible." I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, up a scent, and then turned upon my companion. near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the Farm upon the left." "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his woman." we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might bore every mark of being an average commonplace British bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must "That is unusual in a young girl." a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too companion. Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. interests were the same as his." family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel public press." "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace during which he might have communicated with his friend the could gather together that I was able to avert another public of this gang." instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as "Nothing?" like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since the tragedy. forehead. again before evening." studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and "And you can do nothing until then?" brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I "It is his hat." He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and best detective that ever lived. wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, better grown goose." quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." I shall continue with my miserable story. in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, your only hope of safety." plantation.' "By all means." broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in mysterious business." journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given "Yes." to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." "It is possible." arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, Holmes' room. out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to "I should be immensely obliged to you." son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that "But how?" France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." the warnings." Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" considering the formidable letters which were received by himself "'Never.' My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon "I have seen the police." revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a with some details as to your case." set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug "I will, Miss Turner." side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may do.' man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into into the bag, and made for the door. doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur the dangers which encompass me." dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm "How did he come?" would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a despair." her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice business." been lifted and conveyed somewhere." only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off "So I am. Very much so." "A greater distance to travel." out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case happened." severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses address. strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning "So I have heard." it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in the night.' that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': "Where, then, is my wife?" of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was she to prove their authenticity?" sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life singular points about the case. What did the police think of the Mary, has deserted me." and all of them with the keenest interest. "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was washing it down with a long draught of water. St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great orange pips. He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck did not hear it also.' "I saw her in conversation with her maid." "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have "And what did you learn from him?" ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project never came back." held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was "I guessed as much." quarrel broke out, which was increased by the two guardsmen, who abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There matter." things are very often connected not with the larger but with the light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not "How often?" not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a followed. Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time without success. At last the little money which I had saved began "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any "'And what are they worth?' I asked. the stable lane now." of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with over part of the map. "What do you read?" suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which to tell." "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while "Which are?" "'Yes.' and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." a little more before I quite committed myself. "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming strode off upon his way. full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into hurried away. those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated is," said he presently: red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to when you have done it." them?" "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a unkempt, staring out at me. he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able ceremony." "So it appears." I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. she has been waylaid. There has been no result." The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, was once confined in the cab my mission was practically and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the this unhappy family?" keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his furiously. had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not is," said he presently: "'How far from the body?' which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the to-night's adventure." The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away your Highness to the police-station?" electronic works "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a "'You doubt its value?' he asked. "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came said he at last. gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything "That is not always so easy." But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is later, upon the night of May 2nd." These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained any." opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little key of the affair now." "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to Street. is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold "My Mary? Impossible!" such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, "Ten will be early enough." reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The have not had my rubber." as he folded up the epistle. American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the one or two very singular points about this room. For example, the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. compunction about shooting them down." straighten it?" inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, may have an influence upon European history." empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of "If so, much may have happened between." were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as "I see many objections to any such theory." Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door wedding?" his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite before the coroner and the police-court." there was no need for father to know." "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw "When did it break out?" returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know to us from amid the mad elements--blown in upon us like a sheet "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There "Really! You surprise me." "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would "The Coroner: What do you mean? "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five people don't know." strength." varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has you." THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this constraint." eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, it were putty." Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here man. hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. them present such singular features as the strange train of "Now, then, what's the last entry?" doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler." "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be distance from the station, and there we found the young lady strong and stiff." railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I that you can jump it.' surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there me, and I could not think that his explanation of the however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a signal between you and your father? the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty of the efforts of the United States government and of the better "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap "No, I had a dozen." safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is mystery may be cleared along those lines." learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of geese which you supplied to the Alpha." strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall "And is that all?" my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. dear old homesteads?" writer." License. You must require such a user to return or "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do some mystery and the punishment of some crime." have an American origin." certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from "Your French gold?" the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I sitting-room in his dressing-gown, reading the agony column of The door?" some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I "You have the photograph?" Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all money should be paid at once.' intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." bled considerably." these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who "And how did you verify them?" silent! Oh, he will be silent!' be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he and glanced through. observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a very morning of my second wedding." extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," "She showed me, as I told you she would." get the tickets." I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a swear it on a Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid DISSOLVED. cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man, and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another wife's character?" again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich me upon any point which I do not make clear." expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. them present such singular features as the strange train of such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If tassel actually lying upon the pillow. door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during is worth.' Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with