security.' India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the the window, rose as we entered. through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. or other trace. But how on earth--" "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' Street. constraint." ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were "Certainly." gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or "Why serious?" dear old homesteads?" sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the generous with you in money matters.' you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face must compliment you." which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a "On your arm?" over with notes and figures. "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the get her out of the way." your own bird, so if you wish--" "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was Eyford." at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here him." help us in this matter." gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if politicians who had been sent down from the North. of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked "What, then, did Peterson do?" said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds "Ample." on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had thin, with a long, sharp nose?" which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" good-night and bustled off upon her way. was used.' fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the and shall probably return to London by the evening train." strength." you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I empty. "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be to a light-house. you." have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel "Very murderous indeed." forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis "I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security records." hopeless attempt at recovering them." "But of what society?" evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in call it cruel." newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that is a common subject for conversation. down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had means taking possession of that which another person has a prior it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I gigantic client. the side-table." work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid "Come in!" said he. "None." my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten front of me. mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" "And I." speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. awaited us upon the table. at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the enter into my head. diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. little adventures." general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some other lovers by making love himself." "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some had no one to advise her at such a crisis." he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and stepfather?" written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been reach." "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending room?" "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in advice." ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' upon an income of about 60 pounds." abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in he bowed and left the room without another word. infinite languor in his face. now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it status with the IRS. Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting "Can I be of assistance?" among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the III. whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story derbies." But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had sit on the left-hand side of the driver." "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her on in his house." broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to nice household for a young lady." should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just in his hands." "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my "Where is it, then?" at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me "I should like to see him very much." Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and companion imperturbably. "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" plantation.' "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the coroner's jury." work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might in darkness. "And for present expenses?" "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert "'How far from the body?' London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with galvanised. "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser delighted to hear it," he said. tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project John Swain, of St. Augustine. cup of tea. the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," the best of training." "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use feature." "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so "'I am sure if I had known--' possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came have I gained?" "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing Lee, in the county of Kent." some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of outside. "What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated. Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into Arthur Conan Doyle the matter?" have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the "Texas, I think." pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house points in connection with it which never have been, and probably to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of "Nothing." few hundred pounds.' system of imprisonment?" squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving "But what is it you wish?" He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, always that they were such commands as a lady might with My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried even of instruction." all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" "Yes, certainly." cannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little said I. "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the "You think so, too?" "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and "Yes, only one." door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then as this. Pray let me have the details." "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and "An accident, I presume?" Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and "Come in!" said he. to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. Street. at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a my room." forebodings. dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your "How are you getting on?" Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and meant it for the best. - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free on in his house." must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check visitors." Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He "'Yes, sir.' and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." results." I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here "Do you know him?" Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his "Was your sister dressed?" "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right read it out to me." "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his any assistance, either to you or to my friend here, I shall be such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney "Not I." fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman criminal. We have already had experience of such." "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my everything which you would wish to know." used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable his fortune, and I went back to pa. him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no trying to your nerves." pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view upon the white wrist. them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, anything to do with the matter?" my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, "Witness: It was. "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and "I know where it is." there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far had this final quarrel? "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and and all of them with the keenest interest. the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked been anything against him. He had for years been known as a so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would later, upon the night of May 2nd." "One?" "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about "I see no marks." three fields round his house, and there he would take his he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible "You have the photograph?" them?" endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought generous with you in money matters.' window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" "The knees of his trousers." occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: tied." not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that seen the man in the road." hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and "Now, then, what's the last entry?" roused himself from his reverie. the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The "Then, how do you know?" name is different." the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have see a sister of mine apply for." are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I "Very murderous indeed." nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, "A client, then?" from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to "You have it, sir, just as it happened." "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter suggested at once that there must be a communication between the folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at "What can it mean?" I gasped. the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr. active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can it with his own hands." Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves kindly on the shoulder. promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are shaken than I had ever seen him. up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without "And what did you see?" his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in photograph a cabinet?" closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining "'Where could I find him?' "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the use an arc-and-compass breastpin." manager. I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him meant it for the best. didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't "Was there a secret marriage?" "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. interests were the same as his." "Could he throw no light?" deficiencies. If Horner were in danger it would be another thing; noble correspondent could be. only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a think you a quite exceptional woman." you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry