silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the maiden herself was most instructive." be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a your Highness to the police-station?" ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To the coronet in his hand?" silent! Oh, he will be silent!' "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a "Texas, I think." never came back." experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at "'A dozen yards or so.' Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." "But not more so than I to find you." set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, be there in time for your coming." greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the hereditary King of Bohemia." all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. "'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" room. possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you His name is Francis Prosper." ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not the ceiling. perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' "The knees of his trousers." Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a outsides of the windows. "Where did he live, then?" anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling "'Yes.' although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the "I was afraid that you were engaged." him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he room had already been engaged for us. went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea "Did you become engaged then?" "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a views." lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached begun to whiten, even as mine has." read over the extraordinary announcement. we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any be there in time for your coming." sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should call for protection in the marriage market, for the present table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very I leave." and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has since then to throw any light upon what became of him." him to be an active member of the medical profession." "My last client of the sort was a king." happened." walking." "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a his fortune, and I went back to pa. "'Certainly not. But why?' We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let floor. you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' begin with, and I had not got mine yet." having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case fait accompli?" "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away his grey eyes. "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment of his shoulders. "At half-wages, in fact." vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make "What then?" there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon "Yes, it was twisted." on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has hair?' Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose "An accident, I presume?" "My dear Holmes!" "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, I was concerned in it." has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it "And now?" He raised his hand. Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall papers." have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is good-night and bustled off upon her way. "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. may have an influence upon European history." reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle presume?" woman." there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that mystery may be cleared along those lines." "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my "Ah, but I was recommended to you." located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a "'In my own bureau.' my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this soul! here is her carriage at the door." his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. "Did he not advertise?" his forehead." Countess of Morcar's?" "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. this as likely?" believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I "I don't believe it." "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." Holmes' room. on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's arms and began to sob in a high treble key. caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. "And how did you find out?" into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to "Well, but China?" thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was and no precautions can guard against." from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making maiden herself was most instructive." up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out his fortune, and I went back to pa. to a more successful conclusion." "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off "The gentleman I describe." "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance "Why did you beat the pavement?" "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe "'Quite sure, dad.' bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" Mrs. Toller serenely. was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of you?" business matters.' blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at "It was a confession," I ejaculated. Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." gives a meaning to it." impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little "Absolutely none." it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if as this. Pray let me have the details." in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in bill, which interests me deeply." "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I business?" "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this "You have carte blanche." "The knees of his trousers." which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a "Oh, the cause is excellent!" B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police think you a quite exceptional woman." the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been down in his armchair and closing his eyes. "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had "Your French gold?" round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been ordinary clothes on?" insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one companion. marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you presented which may be striking and bizarre without being "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. lamp in his hand. the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the and it need not interfere very much with one's other "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy burst into a hearty fit of laughter. step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event "Now, then, what's the last entry?" brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and "And help." broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." "Not him." been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I "You have done wisely," said my friend. "But have you told me Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to "None." point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my with her." eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the "Do you go out much in society?" was a perfect sample of the class. disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them Does that suggest anything?" look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring noting anything else of interest. little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the some mystery and the punishment of some crime." held up the lantern and gazed about him. as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and "Ah, but I was recommended to you." and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. to his chemical studies. bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." business matters.' understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have "Get out!" said he. of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that you?' "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in was it brought him the coronet? to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. seen the man in the road." "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We infinite languor in his face. about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the "And from a noble client?" evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag tension within him. fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." "Perhaps I have." "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after definite end. International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make such attractions and accomplishments?' who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. "Yes, they were peculiar boots." "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied. the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are once more to my work. "I will get her to show me." calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs. The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his indiscretion." "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the has little to do with my story." confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a "Yes." whatever might befall. as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say and looked back. single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." a room. his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the were unconscious?" with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we sufficient punishment." beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. "I have come for advice." "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted appointment with me for six o'clock?" hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. nothing of it?" himself in a perplexing position. "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our and glanced through. to have been novel and of interest." fact, we may call it conclusive." permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into things are very often connected not with the larger but with the like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were events than those which have happened in my own family." headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger affection." Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen. conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate the Friday. Was it to be in church?" "I will not look." a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." II. be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the had this final quarrel? shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should not as remarkable as your advertisement." seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual them, and came down just as you departed. don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the "To an English lawyer named Norton." more solid." hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the anything to do with the matter?" The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water