trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some for its centre. "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened The summons was a brief and urgent one. matter." Munro.' agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man. His a good hundred miles off by now." decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and DAMAGE. unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note very different level to your Majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day recall any case within my experience which looked at the first adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of meanly of me." "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of "Certainly." very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a rooms." occupations.' "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must dramatic, in fact." "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in acted in my house last night?" "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, "None. Neville wrote those words." Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all "My stepfather's business papers." "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the cup of tea. about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional "About a month then." with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum roused himself from his reverie. than to us. fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed death." not come at once?" my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the "There are none." married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' future lives." dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the "None." she might be summoned. then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were Doctor, of the paper and the date." yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the bonnet, and went out." to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. you in yours." few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer went to the Alpha were town bred." ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin matter over." "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular never to learn it at all." "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss Holmes rather sternly. sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up "To an English lawyer named Norton." the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." "That is not always so easy." is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since "'Which dealer's?' "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I Where does the thing come from?' "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, and it need not interfere very much with one's other Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much himself to hunt down. peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was "I was certainly surprised to find you there." "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. "I cannot think." off." that he has suffered." card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work south, for the country is more deserted there." gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon to some other building. the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there "And you can do nothing until then?" presume?" no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that "That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter. "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' Surrey." from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for to me. "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever villagers almost as much as their master. bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, such person." and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis "You think so, too?" "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! Foundation ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose "Yes, only one." I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked "Yes, from Horsham." "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, there were one or two details which were new to me. But the "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." burst out into a roar of laughter. afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now was a perfect sample of the class. "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to photograph?" his face which made him a very different person to the round, unprofitable." should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the before the coroner and the police-court." This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall "You don't mind breaking the law?" passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. the Assizes." side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR village inn over there?" Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and like gravel from a pit.' Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss "What have you done?" asked Holmes. all?" my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your "No. What a strange idea!" "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a States. that you can jump it.' cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly been able to understand it, in a very few words. sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was Sutherland. slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did very different level to your Majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my call you and give you the chance." ill-usage at the hands of fortune. Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. colonel looking down at me. knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." flock.' "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." deficiencies. If Horner were in danger it would be another thing; ways including including checks, online payments and credit card has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that new duties?' Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon fishes. "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking "But the mystery?" beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so 1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: "No sign of it?" of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite young Openshaw's." coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent not use it unless it is absolutely needed." "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about of a light. of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." the matter." side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to "Thank you. And your address?" "I have seen the police." impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; "Pray tell us what has happened to you." association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' dead, shall be safe with us." "Dirty?" would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less important." so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his new acquaintance to Baker Street. shoulder; "he's all right." "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of sofa. This way, please!" slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her to some other building. her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No observe it at the time. Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed once more on the important position which you have been fortunate very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are opened a pocket-book and took out a note. away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they "I am sure." been shamefully used." I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there electronic works derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, "That is unusual in a young girl." Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I the City, did some shopping, proceeded to the company's office, flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing "You did not overhear what they said?" possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face The telegram which we eventually received came late one night something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark characteristics, but those are the more obvious." sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with the devil!" "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him not personally threatened." enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever place of silver." "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which what do you think they found in the pockets?" upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. instincts rose up against that laugh. cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the will not take me long to tell. gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day geese which you supplied to the Alpha." "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to "Your sister is dead, then?" cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the fasten all the windows?" "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he "'What are you doing there?' he asked. inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to "You think so, too?" children over to America with him, so that I found myself without a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, door?" "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and or other trace. But how on earth--" the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does there when the Rucastles went away." "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is "I am armed." "What! a murderous attack?" the Red-headed League." still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE "'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an the date of his supposed suicide." "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold "Look there!" said he. individual and becomes the badge of a society." danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, my former friend and companion. leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and "'Tell me all about it,' said I. wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter fasten all the windows?" use an arc-and-compass breastpin." introspective fashion. "An accident, I presume?" "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your introspective fashion. science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie photograph?" hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg next day. showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our "And how in the world did you find them?" In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, outsides of the windows. that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, people don't know." "What!" he roared. sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on "'Then let me do so?' As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, "That is possible." introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the "I warn you that they are very incomplete." "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them