looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought "'Is 4 pounds a week.' "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a becomes even more simple." copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one information in his hands the value of which he did not himself rest is familiar to you. I am much indebted to you, sir, for a the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the details." mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" paper in the air. groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me "I assure you that I am in your hands." even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom will take you up to see the machine.' he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to "No legal papers or certificates?" "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a "'Not at all. I only doubt--' "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had said he. it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to acquaintance?" "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a "What do you mean?" "In heaven's name, what for?" have got?" "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen bed dies. Does not that strike you?" shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him think you a quite exceptional woman." wedding?" finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses politicians who had been sent down from the North. memory. Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, because she had spent so short a time in this country that she Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the "But you were on a friendly footing?" recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from "Never." "She told me to ask you." the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. "What, then, did Peterson do?" http://www.gutenberg.net "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set interest. They are important, you understand, without being sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many impression behind it as though a window had gently closed came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my keep the flames under. likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can see me here to avoid scandal." half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to Gutenberg-tm License. which should have the effect of calling the attention of the He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort dates and names. us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the again." "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the is now desirous of getting those letters back." "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" man. "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. pierced for earrings?" "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with happened." Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best "It is to him that this trophy belongs." more solid." have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of what do you think they found in the pockets?" here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, official police, but it is not pleasant to have a family The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his passage and a tap at the door. to talk it over. Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." "No bad?" "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner lids now and glanced across at his visitor. That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable it." one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly "What is it?" "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope down in his armchair and closing his eyes. father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, noise which awoke you from your sleep?" "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, "Nothing?" "The decline of his fortunes, then?" treasure which we had under our roof, suppressing only the name the iron safe, which he closed upon it. "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would "I fear not." question you as to those details which seem to me to be most ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes mystery may be cleared along those lines." Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at of this gang." "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster generous with you in money matters.' violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the "One?" answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a you." "You are certainly joking, Holmes." the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter "And who is her maid?" "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other get the tickets." out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. know all about it," he snarled. "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong "Here?" "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man likely to be some crony of the landlady's." routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is very peculiar words of the dying woman?" "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed followed. from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. compunction about shooting them down." "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' "How on earth--" and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a prison!" "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who "Never." but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon "Ha! you find it so?" gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" present." "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and narrative." massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; His name is Francis Prosper." "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" held up the lantern and gazed about him. traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." "This photograph!" Eyford." just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the Munro.' second." the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. ways of our fellow-men." which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He "I assure you that I am in your hands." was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the helping a boy to put up the shutters. actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make What do you deduce from it?" the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly you, my dear young lady?' without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me "An enemy?" weary and pale-looking. "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we his huge brown hands. never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send shaken than I had ever seen him. "The vanishing of the lady." of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and most important business. It is probable that he will be away all Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high loudly expressed admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?" "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite shag which I had seen upon the previous night. had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." "Absolutely none." at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, place, I think that there is good ground to think that the prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** were new raised from a basin. "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the nights." have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see made his money." and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the "Well?" scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the "An enemy?" envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss "I don't say that. Perhaps." hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be "This concluded the examination of the witness." Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed and the whole place is in a blaze." safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which your troubles." even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he "Why, what do you mean?" the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife "He said that you could solve anything." "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to to me. during the last few years, and there are many noble families to answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His speckled band?" "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" that I am arrested." three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had villagers almost as much as their master. Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told my room." "None." chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a have established a very serious case against the son of the friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" your Highness to the police-station?" this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my "I saw her in conversation with her maid." About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being noting anything else of interest. doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is "The rest you will leave in our hands." Holmes' face clouded over. take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the more solid." seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" "That is it on the dressing-table." old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door again before evening." myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes." one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at point in the dark hollow of his hand. "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey served to weaken the effect. had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." paper in the air. safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, For additional contact information: him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared down. "My last client of the sort was a king." characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the in his hands." such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, "I was sure that I might rely on you." I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. someone who had been in Australia." warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might as noiselessly as she had come. "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." "From his hat?" had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a strange features which were associated with the two crimes which "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a "Where to?" winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling have established a very serious case against the son of the examination traces of blood were to be seen upon the windowsill, more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, as noiselessly as she had come. Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the