the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my present." appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the "The Coroner: What do you mean? "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone "That is possible." Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have "What, then, did Peterson do?" possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while papers on the sundial.'" crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy points in connection with it which never have been, and probably old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. hurried away. heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of "And Irene Adler?" All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant thin, with a long, sharp nose?" That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of experiences." "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?" "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort arrested. You then--" he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and call for protection in the marriage market, for the present I shall continue with my miserable story. the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but detained." right! Sit down and let us talk it over." there was no need for father to know." on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted "There is the writing." she used." nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa questionable one." reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he "'A dozen yards or so.' whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were has little to do with my story." slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." "I warn you that they are very incomplete." little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he over his head with a sweet womanly caress. what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if conceal it?" not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this "How did you trace it, then?" "She told me to ask you." grasp, he hurried from the room. "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure thin, with a long, sharp nose?" my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, depend upon my doing so.' "I think it very unlikely." again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come not personally threatened." "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets criminal. We have already had experience of such." description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, his knees, staring into the fire. "Nothing?" dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I "Why, what do you mean?" Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the their singular warning or token before them when starting upon so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." to tackle the facts." "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to is worth.' Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. "Not in a good cause." would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the "It was an hour's good drive." stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent compunction about shooting them down." human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet "But how?" inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? of them has the shutters up.' Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable at my remark. client, rising. likely to be some crony of the landlady's." "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend light and attacked it." three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is round and wave him away like that.' money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and outbreak?" Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed License. You must require such a user to return or thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the "Then, how do you know?" With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of "I cannot think." "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in "'Is purely nominal.' fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my writing, and yet I know it well." snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from shaken than I had ever seen him. papers diligently of late, have you not?" spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you was once confined in the cab my mission was practically girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural "I think it very unlikely." "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" "Which surely he restored to their owner?" Have you good authority for what you say?" from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is ran thus: was the fact that his father should, according to his account, "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his Where does the thing come from?' upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you children over to America with him, so that I found myself without serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a washing it down with a long draught of water. better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy "No." to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George eat it." you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included "That is unusual in a young girl." possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I constraint." those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of "Never." upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these "In answer to an advertisement." "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, was once confined in the cab my mission was practically few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were about. astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened "'Is purely nominal.' "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the Have you good authority for what you say?" "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the triumphant cloud from his cigarette. suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was these very carefully from seven or eight different points, Holmes railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his than to us. "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you lamp. another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, shall not find me ungrateful." "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you "None." jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was these very carefully from seven or eight different points, Holmes "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no matters immensely." Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform made him keep the appointment." that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, there in twenty minutes." I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and existence." 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone that he was averse to a marriage with so charming a young lady as "Nothing." right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite "Did your wife hear all this?" ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in "No, but the enclosure is." have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an main points of my analysis." a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he said I. "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It me what he had done with the three missing stones. tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I murdered man." "Is he quiet?" "'Most admirably.' forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not flock.' "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. said I. "Do you receive much company?" he asked. Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. "Yes." the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. strength of mind to control. Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital drunkard. I ran to her and threw my arms round her, but at that showing my impatience. nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa we went to search for him, face downward in a little he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to use an arc-and-compass breastpin." "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be "What! a murderous attack?" there!' mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." could go. Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm "'Never,' said I. into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you written, and locked the door of the office after me. the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, night.' said he. but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, fattened it expressly for you.' Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." "The King of Scandinavia." his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the and laid it on the table. strength." latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent "'How far from the body?' "I cannot as yet see any connection." were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" chair. "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had British peeress.'" "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which them, and came down just as you departed. copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the once more. ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the simple cases which are so extremely difficult." returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the chamber." 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate lids now and glanced across at his visitor. Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his the City, did some shopping, proceeded to the company's office, zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you very peculiar words of the dying woman?" old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was "I will not look." them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low Heh?' salesman. "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." seen the man in the road." "Then I shall certainly come." them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his "I am armed." There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which second." "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it "Oh, fresh and glossy." He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a "Married! When?" reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was of campaign. point our research must commence, and we will begin it by St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may father's young wife. tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the room. myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. "'I am sure if I had known--' "But you would not advise me to refuse?" body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too front of the hall door has given its name to the place. "Then you may entirely rely on me." It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six there!' deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said