ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE "It is to him that this trophy belongs." week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to to have that photograph." obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. will he say when he returns?" I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never "I was afraid that you were engaged." prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax "But to whom?" "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and Holmes' face clouded over. another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds to his chemical studies. "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." "Then the page we have seen--" "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than that Henry Baker is a member." her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not these bleak autumnal evenings." "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, village inn over there?" sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose said he at last. disappearance of the bride.'" accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be leave you to your papers for a little." room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a hurried away. the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." bore every mark of being an average commonplace British I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the signal between you and your father? of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up system of imprisonment?" which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So "Very much so." bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the train from Paddington which would bring you there at about question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black populous neighbourhood." "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the most important business. It is probable that he will be away all forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond became a certainty. stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in States. room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" one else, I think." The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. stalked out of the room. dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to entirely lost his self-respect." until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a started for the Temple to see my husband. "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, "Stolen." and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with one's self under obligations.' There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of "Of what day?" and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there direction." sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that o'clock is it?" while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the you want, then?' as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had "No more words. Get out!" and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence impression behind it as though a window had gently closed to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in nonsense.' copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden out." think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He "Well, it is a possible supposition." foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other "The knees of his trousers." and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to as he remarks, very much against the son." 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" events, Mr. Windibank!" imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself the station." does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys details." ashen face. "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right lids now and glanced across at his visitor. "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird as the one I chose?' hair?' the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement jewels which you have stolen?' "Quite so." several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. "None." Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the security.' "You heard nothing yourself last night?" once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in see me here to avoid scandal." Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my "No, I had a dozen." "Yes." "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, mysterious business." "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One recover the gem." understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for You want to know what became of those geese?" black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you and the church but not where the lady lived." "I cannot tell." of." and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be again." Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his all that?" of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may the one as in the other." my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased then?" he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. to have that photograph." unkempt, staring out at me. woven round him. noble correspondent could be. and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." the dangers which encompass me." "When did she vanish, then?" lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your outside. met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we is," said he presently: silent! Oh, he will be silent!' word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was "Yes, at the mines." trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and in this way: "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I "My private note-paper." and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down opportunities to fix the problem. What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take observed. to have been novel and of interest." consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had "I am to be neutral?" I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. "Yes, they were peculiar boots." "So I have heard." As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a and all of them with the keenest interest. police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the "How long did she speak to this Alice?" buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an "'Where to?' fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the test if we have an answer to our advertisement." "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have whereabouts. "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a "What steps will you take?" I asked. in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need not within a twentieth part of the market price." five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That "Very truly yours, hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 shoulder. breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, "There is the writing." the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I "No, my brougham is waiting." "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was prepare for the new role I have to play." the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, my friend's incisive reasoning. and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa tightly behind him. whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? the stones. these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" "'And the work?' down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from the tragedy. charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something lips." I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE few hundred pounds.' seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be "It is a murder, then?" assist you in forming an opinion." should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" door?" half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure the tragedy. 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the walking." you for a few hours?" We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident, and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. case-book, which he consulted. since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she "Entirely." keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was clang of the bell. impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced there in twenty minutes." family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him "Two days later this same performance was gone through under you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who "'I have heard so.' and have this put in the evening papers." "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been affection." copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but "'And the work?' the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From beg that you will break it off." but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which "How did that help you?" paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small "You have the photograph?" Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other questioning and rather startled gaze. serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed she used." its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very questionable one." to that open window." weighed down with some great anxiety. any little problem which you may submit to me." "Have you it here?" ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" "'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to was a perfect sample of the class. of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and key turn in the lock." to Leatherhead. of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in "Murdered?" not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see posted to-day." "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if any more." other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the fluttered off among the others. heavy and sharp instrument." more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you detective. this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." room. "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to best detective that ever lived. Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, there has been an enclosure here!" to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a the general public were present, then?" lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious. have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, or other trace. But how on earth--" assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. hardly wander." The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at chambers. In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one indeed which he could not unravel. learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open little trying to do so much typewriting?" there when the Rucastles went away." his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon