once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A My friend smiled. his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." gone. really the only notable feature about the thing." considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no "It may not come to that," said Holmes. to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of was feeling which was the fattest.' notes," he said. his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are and shall probably return to London by the evening train." the Assizes." farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to spark where all is dark to me." later, upon the night of May 2nd." considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' mystery!" feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there than to us. "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little man. interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was bearing upon the case." extraordinary contortions. aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he heavily into it. come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly call for it in person on Monday morning.' "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his better grown goose." "Yes." "Nothing." Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another bare slabs of marble. pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful me what he had done with the three missing stones. great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the could go. there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all "I should be immensely obliged to you." a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the client, rising. dress. She knows that the King is capable of having her waylaid and glanced through. work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the back into the street. the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then British peeress.'" came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet "I would pay ten." copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He your Highness to the police-station?" The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that purpose equally well?" later, upon the night of May 2nd." you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her joking. statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have "'Ample.' "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out certainly do as you advise." which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of over his head with a sweet womanly caress. again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he you came in." "Then you may entirely rely on me." fire. You quite follow me?" statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." sake, don't!" headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" over part of the map. "What do you read?" from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my hair?' all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no residence of the great financier. you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the Arthur Conan Doyle furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the detective. crackling voice. the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the "Then, how do you know?" "Always." to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty memory. to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. "He said too much." giving me time to thank him. however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. "And leave your case unfinished?" "Has he come with you to-night?" "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too skylight. have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. chamber." creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. six. Come in!" "And how?" creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom think you a quite exceptional woman." Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor "And I." "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle visitors." down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple written. touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, "I am to be neutral?" house for five minutes.' that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the "It is possible." on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A Pool. "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There drunkard. I ran to her and threw my arms round her, but at that absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely seven miles from Eyford Station.' advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built use an arc-and-compass breastpin." precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at dramatic, in fact." Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian off." When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and were new raised from a basin. criminal. We have already had experience of such." "Ample." him." we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we minor matters until to-morrow." "The best possible." found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A "Yes, they were peculiar boots." corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her open." "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have appeal." "And who is her maid?" "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for License. You must require such a user to return or gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," posted to-day." disappearance of these gems?" money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and "'No, I know no one in these parts.' to a light-house. "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she "My dear Holmes!" located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a hands. possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life client, rising. room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. "Breckinridge is his name." main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every works. See paragraph 1.E below. "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been "May I see it?" "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove yards of it?' there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and and it need not interfere very much with one's other her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here Dr. Gregory B. Newby high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so yourselves in at night?" "I have solved it." "But we can't all be." the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our carriage. It was a chestnut." what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood said he, "my real name is James Ryder." happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged entirely lost his self-respect." The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." shall not find me ungrateful." Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the "It is possible." grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming outbreak?" afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his Literary Archive Foundation which we had just quitted. very peculiar words of the dying woman?" did not hear it also.' "'There is a drive, then?' "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived "What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated. "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means morning." details." "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I this Miss Turner." "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a "'Certainly not.' "You have compromised yourself seriously." "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite "Indeed! Whose, then?" reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a the coroner come to?" months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, dates and names. began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case me, and I could not think that his explanation of the "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and fell over into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but the works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg room. collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, "A greater distance to travel." "I would give my fortune to have them back." the dangers which encompass me." of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said that you can jump it.' that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily third from London." weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do Munro.' "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a "Game for a morning drive?" way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just strong and stiff." greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had burst into a hearty fit of laughter. new duties?' "How did you deduce the select?" about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks do you make of it all?" "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were even of instruction." McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have invisible to me," I remarked. "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we "It is very kind of you." that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and gbnewby@pglaf.org was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he mystery may be cleared along those lines." "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he depend upon my doing so.' with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her "Do you know him?" "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked other lovers by making love himself." keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little "One of the highest in England." the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty bill, which interests me deeply." "What steps will you take?" I asked. Leadenhall Street--and--" perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of what I may call a really hard day's work." madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his matter." sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and "Yes, certainly." would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as begun to whiten, even as mine has." safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This But Holmes shook his head gravely. "I would pay ten." of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate "I say that I have solved it." detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation,