was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, "It goes to the housekeeper's room." "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I me. You must get home instantly and act." to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of over here." agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered him, that man would not have given me such complete information kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a During two years I have had three consultations and one small rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same "Have you it here?" indiscretion." upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. "Of what?" it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second window, cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless "And now?" He raised his hand. twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to "To an English lawyer named Norton." "It was an hour's good drive." searched, without anything being found which could incriminate shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple I nodded to show that I had heard. open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a beyond words. dear old homesteads?" friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" there has been an enclosure here!" the room while you explain this matter?" sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the all?" "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the "I was afraid that you were engaged." prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" tear off another piece?' the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your your equipment. business in the City. She little knew what. "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press had died away into the silence from which it rose. interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one "But what will you do?" you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the "'Then let me do so?' away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man. His criminal. We have already had experience of such." and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical bed dies. Does not that strike you?" hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet "But what is it you wish?" with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By it? Did I buy the geese off you?" "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" to a light-house. "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': himself to tell his story. "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole "I was afraid that you were engaged." upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were Again Holmes raved in the air. A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. "I am following you closely," I answered. They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor "And help." my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which "And how did you find out?" keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up time." Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the habit of advancing money.' bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can breakfast." idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his "Yes, sir." The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have the side-table." to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far quarrel broke out, which was increased by the two guardsmen, who "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself this as likely?" shall not find me ungrateful." dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that to that open window." "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came appeared upon the scene." "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell daring than any effort of the imagination." gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let whereabouts. "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying "'Never,' said I. Eyford at 11:15.' 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have in the hope of finding them." essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, like gravel from a pit.' purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll Have you good authority for what you say?" varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to made his money." "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the she used." including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the Holmes' thin, eager face. they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he "ARAT," I read. Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked to affect your life." "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was it." "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting horse could go." wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, disappearance of these gems?" be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is introspective fashion. me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" the coronet in his hand?" shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I "I have come for advice." do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united side. "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. you?' absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of papers on the sundial.'" know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in might help us?" office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small had died away into the silence from which it rose. you?" "But his lameness?" "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a nothing with him." to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from had this final quarrel? "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be humiliation." over his head with a sweet womanly caress. will not take me long to tell. "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my excitement. chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That vault. rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the next day. infinite languor in his face. "The Cedars?" so far?" the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the enter into my head. "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to and shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint and do you make of it all?" impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, "'What would be the hours?' I asked. the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea business at Coburg Square is serious." especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" "Perfectly so." therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey questioning and rather startled gaze. companion. should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official front of the hall door has given its name to the place. stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, hereditary King of Bohemia." circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared questioning and rather startled gaze. better in every way that they should make their position a little "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and "You don't mind breaking the law?" now. It seems that there had been some informality about their of Mr. Rucastle's." her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. to affect your life." an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely to-night?" I asked. professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence place, I think that there is good ground to think that the to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his tail." in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for "I was sure that I might rely on you." said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me said he. later, upon the night of May 2nd." Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its grasp, he hurried from the room. "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I "The King of Scandinavia." hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, "'What then?' I asked. his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and characteristics, but those are the more obvious." might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a had died away into the silence from which it rose. "'I have already given you my word.' have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, in him." Dr. Gregory B. Newby the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret jewels which you have stolen?' suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; did not hear it also.' "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them lids now and glanced across at his visitor. to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this what these perils are?" upon the white wrist. window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the Shall be glad if you will come with me. Air and scenery perfect. "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to status with the IRS. Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the fact, we may call it conclusive." Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to "Why did you pick him?" "One of his hands." "Why serious?" was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. "You'll never persuade me to believe that." in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it Project Gutenberg-tm works. "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own voice, changing her seat as requested. "We have tried and failed." electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to prisoner's face. saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not writing, and yet I know it well." matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every fled together." "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of "But what will you do?" "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and "I think that it is very probable." deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is it." petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my "No, thank goodness, she did not." up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his the Assizes." office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. call you and give you the chance." "It is solved." "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I tension within him. "To an English lawyer named Norton." hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, "Where did you address your letters, then?" empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two "Yes, that is the Crown." "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered like that before?" "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and events, Mr. Windibank!" was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little it with his own hands." of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would away to you." coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son "I cannot imagine." money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London foot. was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to "What! a murderous attack?" guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. "Seven!" I answered. I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers Watson," he said cordially. whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, breakfast and whispered something to her husband. Pope's Court, Fleet Street." "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very "That's no good." I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon ago." This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is chamber." vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in