as yours." of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the "Then what has happened to him?" "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very "What is it?" nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa was keenly on my guard against him. "But it has twice been burgled." ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. "Two days later this same performance was gone through under that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, "Yes." "Get out!" said he. "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." "Nothing?" second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My "Very good, Lestrade," said Holmes, laughing. "You really are "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. page at http://pglaf.org the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the children over to America with him, so that I found myself without She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the For additional contact information: come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, the so-precious time, but come!' silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, he bowed and left the room without another word. advice." loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear ventilator." being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make down in his armchair and closing his eyes. "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." correct than the official force." lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." some water from a caraffe. anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty "And why?" justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a "'I have already given you my word.' is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very outside." neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the trifles." hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as "Married! When?" the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. business?" "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell "Nothing." "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the threw himself down with his face to the pillow. in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long enter into my head. Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did walking." slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being bonnet, and went out." Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his head. So long, then!" you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. "Two days later this same performance was gone through under over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three "That was it, sir." the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The mysterious business." and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried arrangements." "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the or in danger--" hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed "You know me, then?" "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. "I cannot tell." "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a "Where did you address your letters, then?" not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much "9th. McCauley cleared. "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You "This concluded the examination of the witness." both be extremely obliged.' one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way was keenly on my guard against him. whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, "We have tried and failed." the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than distance from the station, and there we found the young lady "It looks newer than the other things?" such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and "But it has twice been burgled." named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." closing the door. minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on get the tickets." conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society held up the lantern and gazed about him. "So I am. Very much so." machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." "How can you tell that?" latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a "From his hat?" "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the "I have my revolver," said I. in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in excitement. up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" not personally threatened." even so self-evident a thing as that." very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole it right.' classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year The note was undated, and without either signature or address. have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of paper in the air. whereabouts. cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just gone. "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would "How often?" might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked outlined against the flood of light, one hand upon the door, one opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I "You have the photograph?" door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing had this final quarrel? condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful I shall communicate with you." the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when most important business. It is probable that he will be away all from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my whole matter to your consideration." "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise o'clock is it?" which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how it were putty." own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He "You are all wrong." Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. "About a month then." visitors." and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small Leadenhall Street--and--" rat could hardly pass through." carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid "It looks newer than the other things?" "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, one else, I think." suspect him." "Awake, Watson?" he asked. the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with character. do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." him to go away.' said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the a good hundred miles off by now." "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I individual and becomes the badge of a society." daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, "But to whom?" "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing even of instruction." "No bad?" next day. "'A dozen yards or so.' house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would "'A dozen yards or so.' can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. union?" "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." "Not yet." still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were "Witness: I must still refuse. "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them have an American origin." happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and events than those which have happened in my own family." laugh and put his lips to my ear. whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her page at http://pglaf.org another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had "What steps will you take?" I asked. greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated the stable lane now." himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but "Where to?" "Stolen, then." "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents License. You must require such a user to return or manager. in this way: do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the and the whole place is in a blaze." not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her shadow pass over his face as I spoke. Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire You can understand that this register and diary may implicate story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I the one as in the other." which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was acquaintance?" repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal child?' "What can it mean?" I gasped. stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would "She showed me, as I told you she would." "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is now. It seems that there had been some informality about their "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, "Why did you pick him?" appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it "What office?" recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man "How long did she speak to this Alice?" rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came vanished into the darkness. hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is "Who was the criminal, then?" I nodded to show that I had heard. See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those made him keep the appointment." I took the paper from him and read as follows: Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm thin legs towards the fire. "Deserted you?" case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close "'Is purely nominal.' had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. compunction about shooting them down." "Do you know him?" maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I enter Dr. Roylott's room." fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they wedding?" once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per when you have done it." Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, round with crates and massive boxes. little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me "Pray be precise as to details," said he. point our research must commence, and we will begin it by my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four man. "9th. McCauley cleared. Mary, has deserted me." "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I "In San Francisco, a year ago." "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival "Nor running a chance of arrest?" fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." "Yes, they were peculiar boots." "I do." Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in Have you good authority for what you say?" wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. "What are they?" possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed case before our client came into the room." he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, "Well, some hundreds of times." scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the to a light-house. experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been money should be paid at once.' "The best possible." "She will not sell." of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with corner of the building. "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, lost. Nothing but energy can save you. This is no time for cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which do.' Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my this remarkable episode. direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." "Then I can wait in the next room." "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and "How long did she speak to this Alice?" my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, works. See paragraph 1.E below. have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my my secret was safe in his possession. "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice the side-table." bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and