either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. "Very well, sir. And this stone?" Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to leaning back in his chair. "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he "Then I shall certainly come." quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my "What have you done?" asked Holmes. mysterious end." me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense "Yes, sir." hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, what these perils are?" not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the correct than the official force." studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, McCarthy." head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. my foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to villagers almost as much as their master. The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend is four-and-twenty." glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be the Friday. Was it to be in church?" twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." vanished into the darkness. the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would than to us. which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell up a scent, and then turned upon my companion. see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. noble correspondent could be. The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the me what he had done with the three missing stones. "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate "Perfectly so." "The murder was done with it." there when the Rucastles went away." "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the "And that is--" himself to hunt down. excitement. client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can the bottom.' "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local the child." to affect your life." education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to I. and effective." "Yes, from Horsham." strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich with the outside air!" "Yes." springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' Foundation puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, once more for Briony Lodge. "You were travelling in the States?" avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull we went to search for him, face downward in a little little trying to do so much typewriting?" drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. place no limit on the sum I may draw." "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire room. "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he cigars in the box." "At the wedding breakfast." 1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy "But his left-handedness." "'Entirely.' "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." directors, with the result that you have seen." play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such hair?' "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" "I will, Miss Turner." really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of highly," said Holmes. Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing along the entire front of the house, with three long windows There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit your billet.' "I should like to see him very much." "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in indeed which he could not unravel. "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick absolutely follow my advice in every respect." "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." "What! a murderous attack?" found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else man. I know him from the photograph." drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up never came back." better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that "But your client--" and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the carriage. It was a chestnut." here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when remarked. the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had "I was certainly surprised to find you there." away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to necessary. I have already offered a reward of 1000 pounds. My down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we was not a bird to be seen there. town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon "Where, then, is my wife?" "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, "And how?" "'Yes, it was gone.' the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man. His THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this the ceiling. could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should and files of the old papers, following the future career of every in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings "Oh, the cause is excellent!" habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but Doctor, of the paper and the date." face and glided from the room. Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room "Why, what do you mean?" opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight money should be paid at once.' compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias prepare for the new role I have to play." from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their "Nothing." fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded the armchair which I pushed forward for him. furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to "Very. But will he see it?" Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the think, you have already met." is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man, "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled "And you thought he was pulled back?" the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of "Stolen." "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up go from here to the Strand." "It's nothing of the kind." grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his stalked out of the room. "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened friend's singular character. hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a "I hardly consider that a conclusive proof. Was the remainder of "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. "Not yet." "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. friends, not even his own brother. "'Never.' good-night and bustled off upon her way. him!" photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been himself. but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and was used.' what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to my special province." It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save "'What, the red-headed man?' probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now "'Where could I find him?' regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss "Frequently." aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with tell me that you intended to go into harness." "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which and inquire as to the address." you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, will take you up to see the machine.' "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy I nodded to show that I had heard. sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, as yours." Again Holmes raved in the air. have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your this Miss Turner." only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan companion quietly. And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, his interest. Lestrade, being rather puzzled, has referred the "That was it, sir." of receipt of the work. client, rising. "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, new duties?' to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no It may be so in this case, also." of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about "And how did he make his money?" didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't to affect your life." "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son relation between them, and what the object of his repeated police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. happened." ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end populous neighbourhood." and your relations to her." joking. a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the begun to whiten, even as mine has." the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect "'You cannot say what it was?' It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? most interesting one." "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong time." their singular warning or token before them when starting upon "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" "Have you her photograph?" miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa asked. and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased "No sign of it?" "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for it." twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a should be taken.' garden below. to that open window." second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other "Yes, all." feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She her also." hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler." "'Entirely.' "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, "But how will you look?" rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" "You horrify me." through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the money should be paid at once.' I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." the one as in the other." edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a flock.' daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my you give your casting vote to?" delighted to hear it," he said. burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in quick march!" the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" think you a quite exceptional woman." Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in "Only as much as we can deduce." held up the lantern and gazed about him. dates and names. me. penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that it? Did I buy the geese off you?" Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, helping a boy to put up the shutters. I nodded again. from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. "What steps will you take?" I asked. appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him already been minutely examined." him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No "'What are you doing there?' he asked. "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." standing smiling on the door-step. and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, directors have had misgivings upon the subject." And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. test if we have an answer to our advertisement." recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not Cross for the Continent." strong reason behind." "What will you do, then?" "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a individual and becomes the badge of a society." I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at than to us. "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left the stable lane now." bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since "And did you observe any change in her then?" must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had question," said Holmes, smiling. is entirely a question of barometric pressure." "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the "Your presence might be invaluable." furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the