sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of shoulder. "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining "And I." that there was nothing in it, after all." good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen when you have done it." the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange "By no means." marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I hurried away. well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, companion. eavesdroppers?' which we had just quitted. therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. stalked out of the room. gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. "But you would not advise me to refuse?" ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass His smile broadened. "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of your co-operation." "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version the coronet in his hands?" was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little advice." she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. "'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: "What have you done?" asked Holmes. midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the like that before?" dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at of campaign. Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party sake, don't!" stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few outbreak?" the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. to a more successful conclusion." his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened really the only notable feature about the thing." "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate returned to France?" as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker "Because he was handy and would come cheap." stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first and effective." so far?" wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." weigh very heavily upon my conscience." make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my "Yes, there are nearly always some there." "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' "One horse?" interjected Holmes. listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she your equipment. together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same "And your father? Did you tell him?" beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should never went wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I'll disappearance of these gems?" "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my "Witness: It was. "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' "I am sure." "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post shag which I had seen upon the previous night. doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. "I do." dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, ran thus: "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the 1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and foot. will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the side. again, where I was soon asleep. "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. "He slept on the premises." "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not "Yes, he did." without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy "And did you observe any change in her then?" including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and round and wave him away like that.' sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found when you have done it." propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and "I promise," said Holmes. really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to "The decline of his fortunes, then?" hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my or other trace. But how on earth--" one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a papers diligently of late, have you not?" "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my few hundred pounds.' clang of the bell. heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And had picked up in the wood. very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided arms and began to sob in a high treble key. asked. have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own "He is still with you, I presume?" THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on "Then I do not see the point." Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything said I. how narrow had been my escape. so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's you?" Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him were unconscious?" "The knees of his trousers." repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a matter." He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was Cross for the Continent." his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he pound a week." case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. "'Stolen!' he cried. the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You lids now and glanced across at his visitor. "I am in hopes that she does." How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to "To an end?" many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I "And is that all?" "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, things are very often connected not with the larger but with the trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the through." "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All four million human beings all jostling each other within the it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we DISSOLVED. "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he what do you think they found in the pockets?" Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical question you as to those details which seem to me to be most face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the one of the states of the Union." explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." developed." "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to his cane at the bell-pull. fluttered off among the others. could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking "'You doubt its value?' he asked. to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and "'About the same.' it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you it with his own hands." "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and certainly do as you advise." hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute "I am armed." "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, business at Coburg Square is serious." in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my your billet.' beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It Mr. Hatherley," said he. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself were new raised from a basin. examination traces of blood were to be seen upon the windowsill, pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the "Oh, yes, easily." "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did "And what then?" two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. cigars in their mouths. across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do the child." "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" "And who is her maid?" one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of upon the sideboard." "It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able "Dr. Becher's." if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of to-night's adventure." follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who gigantic client. "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had "At what time?" was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way man. We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly purpose of examination. "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and was a perfect sample of the class. who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush ways including including checks, online payments and credit card to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. "You have a clue?" "'Oh, no.' following enigmatical notices: so.' points to suicide?" "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very "Witness: It was. and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall during which he might have communicated with his friend the uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to "But how?" had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in begin with, and I had not got mine yet." effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment roused himself from his reverie. "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I means taking possession of that which another person has a prior "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the "What is it, then--a fire?" the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have "What! You do not mean bodies?" 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I "But she could not love him." back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered Miss Holder?" a suggestive one." crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence to affect your life." "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, "And from a noble client?" Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party "But it has twice been burgled." became a certainty. assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" "No, my brougham is waiting." knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for be.' We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. "'No, I know no one in these parts.' seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the a good hundred miles off by now." Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and hurried by. "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, six. Come in!" upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes woven round him. Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my "That is also quite modern," said the lady. name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my with frightened eyes at his accuser. paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. "'Quite sure, dad.' window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and "I have a cab outside." "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem be. dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the you." our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go province." "I fear not." should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the