however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good was a lad." "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, recover the gem." and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be the bottom.' which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between overpowering excitement and concern. of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and fasten all the windows?" that, and I came down." however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and looking up at the numbers of the houses." "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." are, and they are waiting for us." "Certainly." chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just now. forecastle of an emigrant ship. will not take me long to tell. "Not in the least." we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull "Yes, they were peculiar boots." "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was and effective." "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But "No bad?" little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to have not had my rubber." promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." could not have written that. It is the German who is so Heh?' complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit "And what did you see?" all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not that?' word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of "And for present expenses?" they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" we went to search for him, face downward in a little younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia I leave." something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. charged with?" playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to awkward doing business with an alias." possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting "Where did he live, then?" "That you are never beaten." companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." it." all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when standing smiling on the door-step. belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, Sutherland. for securing the situation." "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I in one or two places in England?' to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being grasp, he hurried from the room. cost them two and thirty pounds." the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell "An enemy?" will not take me long to tell. pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he done what I asked you, Jones?" may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we coat-tails." card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but "But you can know nothing of this?" the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was throat." But Holmes shook his head gravely. "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a interest. They are important, you understand, without being through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be me. and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new outlined against the flood of light, one hand upon the door, one The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San house for five minutes.' in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter you do it in twenty minutes!' loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room Countess of Morcar's?" "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal hour." "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an passage and a tap at the door. tear off another piece?' "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of really the only notable feature about the thing." "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all had died away into the silence from which it rose. to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady it." the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the awkward doing business with an alias." human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then dates and names. knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over "I would pay ten." makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was II. crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez this poor creature." Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. "If so, much may have happened between." now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was For additional contact information: be best to do. correct than the official force." what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another always that they were such commands as a lady might with "You think so, too?" heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. one else, I think." "'And what are they worth?' I asked. landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and stalked out of the room. have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." his wife has ceased to love him." following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be bachelor.' huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for "More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert vanished into the darkness. vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some was once confined in the cab my mission was practically very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen. home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike remarked. but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love "Nearly eleven." "Where, indeed?" him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. "So I heard. You have him here?" see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and Leadenhall Street--and--" side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive "'Then let me do so?' "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his "That is also quite modern," said the lady. pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more DAMAGE. a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? useful material for showing traces. The double line a little ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in "No, I am descending." partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping appointment with me for six o'clock?" not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so this Miss Turner." smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his directors, with the result that you have seen." least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the "You have it, sir, just as it happened." "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a cost them two and thirty pounds." tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect have got?" array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the all-comprehensive glances. "This photograph!" the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the back alive. "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back "Not yet." Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is second." home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was Serpentine Avenue. "I shall be delighted." had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready companion imperturbably. letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by think you a quite exceptional woman." as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A "No." said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my sparkled upon his finger. servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible "Yes, they were peculiar boots." questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge me." the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband "Oh, fresh and glossy." although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the "Then how many are there?" of fine shops and stately business premises that they really The police have openly confessed that they can at present make far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But points to suicide?" What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? residence of the great financier. after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, a little more before I quite committed myself. hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the your troubles." "At the wedding breakfast." Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the about here speaks of his kindness to him." both be extremely obliged.' Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, "I shall be delighted." who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." Shall be glad if you will come with me. Air and scenery perfect. against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come upon a handsome competence. of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" just ask you whether you had heard it.' "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, "And how in the world did you find them?" "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project "How do you know, then?" "But you were on a friendly footing?" "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in lamp. "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an "You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my you understand?" presented more singular features than that which was associated Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who instincts rose up against that laugh. "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go three fields round his house, and there he would take his was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." new duties?' his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you fattened it expressly for you.' "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. the little opening for the ventilator is." laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. "Deserted you?" disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. other means.' which presents any features of interest. It is possible, however, "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat "I think that it is very probable." of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might interested in these little problems, and since you are good lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and "Your sister is dead, then?" following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, "It is true that I have been generally successful." submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in "In San Francisco, a year ago." "Thank you. Pray proceed." never to learn it at all." introspective fashion. village inn over there?" address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her said Mr. Holder. with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news "It is a murder, then?" studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you in. deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly "That sounds a little paradoxical." most interesting one." call for protection in the marriage market, for the present my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a that before taking the final step I should like to submit the hand, madam?" and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was "What is it?" him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp evidence," I remarked. Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to The events in question occurred in the early days of my from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned