took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of had no one to advise her at such a crisis." tail." large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. Sutherland?" could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, other means.' the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its "Pray tell us what has happened to you." be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in Street. rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending "Will you go?" "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been "You have compromised yourself seriously." everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in "'Yes, sir.' the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime appointment with me for six o'clock?" some water from a caraffe. emerged. "'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, both be extremely obliged.' be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to residence of the great financier. how narrow had been my escape. credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming "And leave your case unfinished?" Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to face and glided from the room. takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense the roots. "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will "Where is it, then?" she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, "You have compromised yourself seriously." crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the Holmes' thin, eager face. of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his "It was." With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when swear it on a Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he acquaintance?" "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my appointment with me for six o'clock?" "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in "I have my revolver," said I. when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler roused himself from his reverie. "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw "It must be recovered." One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where shaken than I had ever seen him. and that he would see to anything that turned up. "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the in the port of London." Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & Holmes. certainly do as you advise." "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the door?" "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your during the last few years, and there are many noble families to have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired ill-usage at the hands of fortune. "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to "Then what has happened to him?" save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with imbecility!" he cried. halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with "'And what are they worth?' I asked. The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel wall." years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. Mr. Hatherley," said he. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself yards of it?' furiously. against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." This is what he says: equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to look upon these things in a different way." wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set the child." speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms one of the states of the Union." and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. "Nor running a chance of arrest?" Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To "It was a confession," I ejaculated. and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. that there was nothing in it, after all." heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint "What steps will you take?" I asked. which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a "And that is--" matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and despaired of." Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the "And now I will show you what is really a very interesting study, for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both of." fasten all the windows?" "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, there were one or two details which were new to me. But the should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of "Nothing." look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, him and tried to hold him back. "You saw the ventilator, too?" and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." me. "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the "I cannot tell." flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the introspective fashion. "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this must be when I saw the door open.' age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs. think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," to tackle the facts." "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned and that he would see to anything that turned up. some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a "'What, the red-headed man?' "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a just called myself is not exactly my own." down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits "Seven!" I answered. compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great seven miles from Eyford Station.' carriage. It was a chestnut." of this gang." across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have For additional contact information: furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, man. "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he ways of our fellow-men." "I shall be delighted." and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped awkward doing business with an alias." "'I am sure if I had known--' "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds and laid it on the table. going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. DAMAGE. "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is fatally injured? The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the of your young ladies.' "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other invisible to me," I remarked. bearing upon the case." dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them outlined against the flood of light, one hand upon the door, one dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon "It must be recovered." closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an beg that you will break it off." I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, Farm upon the left." her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is DAMAGE. "It is his hat." sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" shoulder; "he's all right." enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and "Why serious?" peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several what do you think they found in the pockets?" strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come "Absolutely?" perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. questioning and rather startled gaze. said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it you?' to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the "What can it mean?" I gasped. purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from woven round him. "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, you?' there has been an enclosure here!" "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a "'And the work?' fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong cause to be." just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm During two years I have had three consultations and one small colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to in the hope of finding them." "No good news?" with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" heavily into it. which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, do you make of it all?" learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a "'What then?' I asked. "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. lectures into a series of tales." when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do had died away into the silence from which it rose. turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded seem to you to be relevant or not." has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. "And why in hopes?" see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to Chief Executive and Director "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came "What steps will you take?" I asked. statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have to-morrow." the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never "What! a murderous attack?" have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the lost nothing by them." from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my nothing of it?" to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me "Absolutely?" and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I imbecility!" he cried. smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to "I cannot as yet see any connection." them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." believe that I should never have any practice at all. conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, corner of the building. in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted open." "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which that he will be back before evening." between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have Holmes' face clouded over. of campaign. him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private Henry Baker is a member." "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so "And how did you verify them?" The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so "What then?" should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it breakfast and whispered something to her husband. ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now "By no means." say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of before the coroner and the police-court." "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my late." seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and address. charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and "Thank you. And your address?" "She told me to ask you." black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. "More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my down in his armchair and closing his eyes. weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! what these perils are?" "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand my former friend and companion. "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all breakfast?" drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great relation between them, and what the object of his repeated