nothing of it?" overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own once more on the important position which you have been fortunate have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, "Did you observe the colour?" examination traces of blood were to be seen upon the windowsill, Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant "Nor running a chance of arrest?" the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this of the one which your family is now devouring." monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I success. "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed you in your example." "It looks newer than the other things?" this truth that in these little records of our cases which you although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if searched, without anything being found which could incriminate the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six someone who had been in Australia." cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told my foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what "Was he the only applicant?" side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that the running down." upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in "My dear Holmes!" Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the "That is easily got." some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been was a loud and authoritative tap. "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her "Not yet." you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal questioning and rather startled gaze. the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you had picked up in the wood. prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax Young McCarthy must be got off, however." object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past if she died from some sudden fright." glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in "Well, some hundreds of times." "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other just ask you whether you had heard it.' "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into I shall continue with my miserable story. "Can I be of assistance?" down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my outsides of the windows. constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the the coroner come to?" aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and photograph?" his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have useful material for showing traces. The double line a little as the one I chose?' glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been Holmes' face clouded over. down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone habit of advancing money.' can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet possible that we could bring him back to her? friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting for securing the situation." "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. previous husband--the chances being in favour of the latter." deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. chambers. mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his my foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what "I saw her in conversation with her maid." screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might cigars in the box." broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For III. but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, "Yes, the wine-cellar." It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still be best to do. "It is no ordinary one." and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." "Absolutely none." One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle people don't know." of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open "What do you make of that, Watson?" a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was "Do you go out much in society?" matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my What do you deduce from it?" with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double presented more singular features than that which was associated on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the Mr. Hatherley," said he. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that "Thank you. Pray proceed." "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen redistribution. ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers "Yes." The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive present." with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project wedding?" to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were newspaper selections." not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, better in every way that they should make their position a little he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the him!" before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you your room." villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders "Pray continue your narrative." giving me time to thank him. relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your and shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint and already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which "'There is a drive, then?' opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the dramatic, in fact." near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the writers could invent nothing more crude." Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be window, cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and business matters.' certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, guilty one." "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest Chief Executive and Director "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the was shining brightly. "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have "Absolutely none." reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' tell them apart.' have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage "No, I am descending." foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, "More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to "No, distinctly professional." came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through carriage. It was a chestnut." where Mr. Fordham shows you.' explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and "I guessed as much." the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my "I am following you closely," I answered. subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the enter into my head. Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring your Highness to the police-station?" home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits instituted." moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my comes from the middle window." means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the on in his house." "It was." typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of papers must be those that are destroyed.' politicians who had been sent down from the North. pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination "Yes." logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over invisible to me," I remarked. served to weaken the effect. "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less "And why?" however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I "Stolen, then." "And leave your case unfinished?" "Well?" When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of "My dear Holmes!" out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three to-night?' "Oh, the cause is excellent!" his knees, staring into the fire. at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently my secret was safe in his possession. A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so "I do." this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. "You think so, too?" prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, it with his own hands." "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the suddenly upon us." "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without morning." yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of prison!" "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a matter." "I see no marks." respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will "A greater distance to travel." act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you make me his representative both with the servants and with the running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to know what is wrong with it.' and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this "My last client of the sort was a king." keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together weigh very heavily upon my conscience." "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." "A client, then?" "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, "Yes." McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was "Not particularly." "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one "And leave your case unfinished?" beyond words. round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness "Not him." "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I to a light-house. ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** stalked out of the room. benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. "You are all wrong." "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his the little opening for the ventilator is." "He is dead," cried several voices. directly by questioning you." you understand?" money should be paid at once.' his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his vanished into the darkness. and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to important." the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch have been better. It is all right." material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as "On the contrary, this is the right side." conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At "The King of Scandinavia." "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs persecution?" my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian with some details as to your case." to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, anything to do with the matter?" we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them main points of my analysis." The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I written. the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our "My photograph." centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the "Not particularly." there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become "And why?" Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" necessary. I have already offered a reward of 1000 pounds. My the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her Miss Holder?" seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" "The best possible." covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet appeared upon the scene." as the one I chose?' fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little From what you have told me I think that it is possible that active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' "He slept on the premises." beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with galvanised. wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, been with you?" side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough the coroner come to?" have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms "Was your sister dressed?" which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the she slowly sank and died without having recovered her behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, true." of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back see me here to avoid scandal." shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some anything to do with the matter?" who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man later, upon the night of May 2nd." someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of "This photograph!" while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered "Was he the only applicant?" afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his already been minutely examined." looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the