began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its writing, and yet I know it well." fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the photograph?" round with crates and massive boxes. erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you him. dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen. I leave." adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, "And how?" pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I drove away. brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe just called myself is not exactly my own." union?" clanging. girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a "Precisely." sparkled upon his finger. hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered you for a few hours?" success. detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of Does that suggest anything?" when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. was my first impression. At the second glance, however, I "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." some terrible trap for her." lost his Christmas dinner." room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, key of the affair now." paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the death." devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be to his chemical studies. "Yes." reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the what these perils are?" the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." thought that she would have been so carried away." "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon "I should be immensely obliged to you." would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between "That was it, sir." "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. Heh?' I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I tapping his fingers upon the table. tell me that you intended to go into harness." something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with on re-entering her father's house?" husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I "I could hardly believe my ears. As you may observe, Mr. Holmes, assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, maid will bring up your coffee." situation." ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident unprecedented a position." great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." Watson," he said cordially. wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis detained." pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it "I am in hopes that she does." enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. "You will not go there first?" call for protection in the marriage market, for the present which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), anything to do with the matter?" "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She of your young ladies.' Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any of Mr. Rucastle's." "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. of a light. drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge run away and explain afterwards. I hadn't been at the table ten writer." of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on "And when will you call?" Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me "You were travelling in the States?" afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. "A call for help, you thought?" weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship asked. ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. "You have done wisely," said my friend. "But have you told me "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from "This concluded the examination of the witness." main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice used to be." shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. to talk it over. together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his mystery!" Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" carpenter." The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the "I was afraid that you were engaged." the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles look upon these things in a different way." "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards "'Most admirably.' to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return help us in this matter." blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, hereditary King of Bohemia." before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg opened a pocket-book and took out a note. a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more mystery may be cleared along those lines." look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could "Yes, from Horsham." Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" investigation." "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of like that before?" "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which just called myself is not exactly my own." morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. "Nothing." vague figure huddled up in the darkness. character. "How on earth--" "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for "Well, but China?" read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the "I shall be delighted." absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; have got?" "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me green of the new foliage. branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" in a very precise fashion." provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, really the only notable feature about the thing." Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows the coronet in his hand?" rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. for its centre. there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an "Well, but China?" to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. is acting for the best. a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, but preventing her from injuring another. building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl suddenly upon us." married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent peculiar to him. orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my four million human beings all jostling each other within the "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box easy-going way." multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the "But not more so than I to find you." these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" character. to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely mysterious end." "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and society." walking." during which he might have communicated with his friend the "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long "'Ten to two.' James Windibank. Voilà tout!" "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his Lestrade of Scotland Yard." understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower "But what is it you wish?" They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the business at Coburg Square is serious." young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in singular points about the case. What did the police think of the railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been in the dead of the night?' upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. "An accident, I presume?" prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to are windows in it, of course?" cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and and inquire as to the address." nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever threw himself down with his face to the pillow. "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which "Indeed! Whose, then?" even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She furiously. fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I "Entirely." "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up away to you." Literary Archive Foundation ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the "No, finished." them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who leaning back in his chair. "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping any assistance, either to you or to my friend here, I shall be have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal "You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at "You horrify me." the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as developed." handed it to him. a little more before I quite committed myself. believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, since then to throw any light upon what became of him." business matters.' the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did "'Then let me do so?' will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found system of imprisonment?" "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H "And I say east," said my patient. long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without "'Quite sure, dad.' poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical "Yes, only one." "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news never came back." He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each fell over into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but the Mr. Hatherley," said he. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." started for the Temple to see my husband. "And sit in the dark?" round and wave him away like that.' basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner case before our client came into the room." landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods "And leave your case unfinished?" conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of not fit the lock." problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming hardly wander." "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" that threaten you." but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a "Yes." papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the she might be summoned. believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than whereabouts. estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of "Entirely." lucky chance, I think that we have got them right enough." for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. to a light-house. was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do over part of the map. "What do you read?" rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. "Where did he live, then?" himself to tell his story. "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and Holmes' face clouded over. St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number that there was nothing in it, after all." One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the dead, shall be safe with us." "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to "And I say east," said my patient. written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been "And your mother is alive?" far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature following enigmatical notices: occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We bore every mark of being an average commonplace British light and attacked it." a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first business for myself and took professional chambers in Victoria "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your "It is half-past ten now." not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my and laid it on the table. for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a that you wished to speak to me?' tied." where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not been with you?" never did wish us to go anywhere. He would get quite mad if I definite end. Mrs. Toller serenely. profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, congratulate you again." present." lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a he. happened." recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an "Not yet." hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the "My opinion is in no way altered." anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a "Entirely." soul! here is her carriage at the door." the station." they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been "When did she vanish, then?" size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at "'Stolen!' he cried. light and attacked it." however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. your billet.' and capable of preserving a secret.' drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was or in danger--" quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between "And it is--"