speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There giving me time to thank him. sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, geese which you supplied to the Alpha." "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may enter Dr. Roylott's room." arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle "Where to?" august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an your only hope of safety." comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. feature." if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. "It is no ordinary one." fat-encircled eyes. beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by business?" The summons was a brief and urgent one. controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over within hail.' "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to the night.' "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been crowd. that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. foresight and the moral retrogression?" little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger promised to bring home. Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This "The landlord of the Alpha." copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it "How about poison?" any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John breakfast?" dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off developed." was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see "Stoke Moran?" said he. distance from the station, and there we found the young lady moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the forbidden door. word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. Sutherland?" "On Monday." have taken place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as never to learn it at all." expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of whether it answered to the description of any of their accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, "I cannot imagine." over here." has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim "To the police?" "Texas, I think." is entirely a question of barometric pressure." "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." strong and stiff." at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler." 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." washing it down with a long draught of water. the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to Street. she to prove their authenticity?" "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about "Whose house is it?" at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that "And for present expenses?" pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted them?" Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over bearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about country, and eventually married, without anyone having a more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She "No." what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so "Stolen, then." therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine attention." before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." any little problem which you may submit to me." sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable chair. questioning and rather startled gaze. Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez outside." "So it appears." work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident, for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and secret." moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and guilty parties." amused." When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are colonel looking down at me. and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the "'No, I know no one in these parts.' upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the lips." in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was copied or distributed: the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must "'Never.' is so. I know all about McCarthy." which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a "One of his hands." He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. "Was your sister dressed?" away into the river." now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to the warnings." of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this "No, but the enclosure is." hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which it." that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." meant it for the best. "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you of it with the greatest attention. his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works husband's writing, madam." it. promised to bring home. the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as posted to-day." "How did you trace it, then?" to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good it." purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to the loss of it. Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' "'Yes, it was gone.' know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a crime. I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular "Not in a good cause." and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was "Absolutely?" "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I colour had been driven from his face. chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found followed. glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been during the last few years, and there are many noble families to "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, situation." received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, his cane at the bell-pull. and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. "You think so, too?" increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." papers on the sundial.'" the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." is a common subject for conversation. half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in than was visible to me." "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and "Then the page we have seen--" the loss of it. serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some him!" which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to should be so warm over such a trifle." the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the someone who had been in Australia." papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a I have it here in my museum." "None." saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his chance at all." "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have outbreak?" hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our "It certainly sounds feasible." I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at that he has suffered." "Won't it ring?" The telegram which we eventually received came late one night "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger congenial hunt. "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the "Why, what do you mean?" "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' remarked. had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic Young McCarthy must be got off, however." was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year hands. "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple business came to an end." half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy breakfast and whispered something to her husband. hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his spare." down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem train.' He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. she to prove their authenticity?" my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his "Very much so." along the entire front of the house, with three long windows some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every something of him before." should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. "Her father is very rich?" showing my impatience. "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in gives a meaning to it." upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man, fasten all the windows?" "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the absorbing." kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the detained." "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." too. set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened "A client, then?" "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an "'I have heard so.' "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried weary and pale-looking. entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly "My Mary? Impossible!" card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply assist you in forming an opinion." learned something! Where are the gems?" "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange "I cannot tell." "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come in this way: the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method "No, my brougham is waiting." "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A directors have had misgivings upon the subject." when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. you do it in twenty minutes!' "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off grasp, he hurried from the room. "I warn you that they are very incomplete." It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped corner of the building. "Imitated." We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short think that any burglar could have done. and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some Mr. Hatherley," said he. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself at a side door. "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of power." and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much "'Tell me all about it,' said I. pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted and it need not interfere very much with one's other pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the once more. happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as look upon these things in a different way." had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have test if we have an answer to our advertisement." have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" hour." as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. breakfast." "None." chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit It was close upon four before the door opened, and a my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same from the brougham. "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included affection." and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen?