said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for together. greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had "Nothing?" step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was "I shall most certainly do so." there were one or two details which were new to me. But the never went wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I'll that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have I held the little printed slip to the light. "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. "Holmes, the busybody!" fell over into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but the Where does the thing come from?' "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' to-night?' "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to were wasted." have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any "Seven!" I answered. "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and "I should be immensely obliged to you." the address that was given us in the advertisement. (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project not personally threatened." lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant get her out of the way." ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope made his money." I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of "On your arm?" roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which galvanised. will be renamed. three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set question," said Holmes, smiling. sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its James Windibank. Voilà tout!" you give your casting vote to?" III. well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the are, I think, all that we need." writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had fight. She had hardly said the words when young Mr. McCarthy came peculiar to him. "And the cigar-holder?" surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting "Come in!" said he. "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was "It came here." the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you this remarkable episode. story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets some terrible trap for her." "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. that?' What do you deduce from it?" "I am about to be married." knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She pictures, libraries, or plate. me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no spark where all is dark to me." ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when "Nearly eleven." Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in people in all walks of life. "He might." "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax thin, with a long, sharp nose?" the side-table." it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as present." "And did you observe any change in her then?" the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some "Ten will be early enough." half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler." "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to likely to be some crony of the landlady's." danger is over." (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a "Very. But will he see it?" and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any Mrs. Toller serenely. going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it point in the dark hollow of his hand. behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg "My own seal." again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, pierced for earrings?" the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I is now desirous of getting those letters back." good-night and bustled off upon her way. appointment with me for six o'clock?" "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. sofa. This way, please!" "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what to some other building. said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our spare." "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square him nearly every evening." St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a time." to change my dress. wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout brain must have something in it." constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and "Yes, he did." Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I "You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very have established a very serious case against the son of the mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon "Two days later this same performance was gone through under other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the gone. Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet "What of the rat, then?" foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the even of instruction." met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working coroner's jury." his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to The events in question occurred in the early days of my "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated charge against him will break down." "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If introspective fashion. the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I there were so many in the whole country as were brought together one which it was hard to resist. vault. matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were crime. week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a enter Dr. Roylott's room." or in danger--" pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as since then to throw any light upon what became of him." ill-usage at the hands of fortune. "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened keep the flames under. arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" Count Von Kramm." means taking possession of that which another person has a prior hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear shaken than I had ever seen him. his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his important." charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared was shining brightly. "What will you say?" when your master had gone out." to-night?' you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would strength in the others." the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was once more on the important position which you have been fortunate believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, "What steps will you take?" I asked. think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a hardly wander." circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, "This photograph!" the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, "No." which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and "Where to?" She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an "Witness: I must still refuse. joking. Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss "But of what society?" o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce Where does the thing come from?' that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both "Absolutely?" village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. the coronet in his hands?" of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods "None." that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with bare slabs of marble. It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is present strange and interesting features that it is no easy fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid absolutely follow my advice in every respect." skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, have been better. It is all right." from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, my little problems." certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be round with crates and massive boxes. that before taking the final step I should like to submit the disturbance in my wife." despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain whatever might befall. "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for gigantic client. I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the "Your French gold?" flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into that the gas is not laid on in his house?" he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into served to weaken the effect. I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and "But the mystery?" it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back The telegram which we eventually received came late one night him to go away.' of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin my secret was safe in his possession. work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and used to be." the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of and it need not interfere very much with one's other which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the "Here?" so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do "How did you deduce the select?" our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the "But I have heard all that you have heard." "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or presented more singular features than that which was associated remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a absolutely follow my advice in every respect." were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition train.' "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of without success. At last the little money which I had saved began with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most "'What, the red-headed man?' hereditary King of Bohemia." like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds companion imperturbably. "What! Had he lost his wife?" "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall Clair, of Lee." neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his posted to-day." former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the "What! You do not mean bodies?" "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My other, as fresh and trim as possible. night.' said he. you in your example." strong and stiff." typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business throat." thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I the Red-headed League." "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be "We were both in the photograph." your Highness to the police-station?" "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had of the one which your family is now devouring." have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo obstinate." father's young wife. Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through http://gutenberg.net/license). "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are over with notes and figures. "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled "What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated. note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its during the last few years, and there are many noble families to "Did he not advertise?" "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, away to you." fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I is," said he presently: bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very himself in a perplexing position. them present such singular features as the strange train of the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. "Pray let us have it, for all that." given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates examination traces of blood were to be seen upon the windowsill, entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the in darkness. graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' "Yes. He waved his hands." clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter existence." particular state visit http://pglaf.org of note-paper. It read in this fashion: which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic.