these bleak autumnal evenings." with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with "Because he was handy and would come cheap." face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms politicians who had been sent down from the North. blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs." you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less lids now and glanced across at his visitor. and that he would see to anything that turned up. half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure served to weaken the effect. the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat "Well, at least," said Holmes, "you have had your revenge upon points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he round and wave him away like that.' weary and pale-looking. money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is legal crime." utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning absorbing." became a certainty. St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any States. interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable up a scent, and then turned upon my companion. "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. "Look there!" said he. future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. "That is unusual in a young girl." struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and may have an influence upon European history." once more for Briony Lodge. pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular about. "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at "Then I shall certainly come." "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a "It is no ordinary one." treasure which we had under our roof, suppressing only the name really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and quite distinctive." all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which and the whole place is in a blaze." instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and night.' said he. matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a "How often?" my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was The telegram which we eventually received came late one night forbidden door. corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the yards of it?' It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to "'I am sure if I had known--' although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been a suggestive one." "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage question," said Holmes, smiling. has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met Have you good authority for what you say?" during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of in one or two places in England?' indeed which he could not unravel. placed his cuttings. thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had "It came here." gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that "I was sure that I might rely on you." "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your subject to the trademark license, especially commercial When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a could go. down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next "Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, "'Which dealer's?' Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you mysterious business." He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back said Mr. Holder. work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with "How long did she speak to this Alice?" could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. think you a quite exceptional woman." to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised "Why serious?" that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange Lee, in the county of Kent." generous with you in money matters.' used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so In this way you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of an wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a go back?" to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, "More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly was the fact that his father should, according to his account, "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." once more on the important position which you have been fortunate with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to never did wish us to go anywhere. He would get quite mad if I into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to emerged. would then never go into court at all." "And why in hopes?" be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view his cane at the bell-pull. overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that never to learn it at all." giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, you in your example." work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the "'Certainly not.' side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my "'In my own bureau.' my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to arms and began to sob in a high treble key. over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. you." forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned corner of the building. dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, the loss of it. "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set October 9, 1890. the coroner come to?" Mary, has deserted me." expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their "How about poison?" "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say Holmes' thin, eager face. paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer October 9, 1890. old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted been with you?" This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with six. Come in!" weigh very heavily upon my conscience." twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds young Openshaw's." consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens Chief Executive and Director "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." "Ah, but I was recommended to you." smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as companion. was suffering from some strong agitation, which it took all his light and attacked it." and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a "We must have a cab." results." know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to Arthur Conan Doyle after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small "I have my revolver," said I. grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted guilty one." dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." My friend smiled. return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." woman who has had her own way to make in the world. "I will do it." "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" fuss that is made over them." "That is not always so easy." conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a upon the white wrist. McCarthy." inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you This is what he says: "Well, at least," said Holmes, "you have had your revenge upon the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, third from London." "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project "Always." business in the City. She little knew what. "Yes, the wine-cellar." "One horse?" interjected Holmes. firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, humiliation." that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the indiscretion." "Always." accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian "What!" he roared. was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are away in different directions, and I went off to make my own I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated soul! here is her carriage at the door." newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." "'A dozen yards or so.' in him." The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the father's young wife. business came to an end." and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, singular points about the case. What did the police think of the "No?" the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. "I should like to see him very much." "What?" spark where all is dark to me." "At half-wages, in fact." "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the forbidden door. ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the you for a few hours?" "Why did you beat the pavement?" us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your careless servant girl?" that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must "None." "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your hardly wander." leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," "It is very kind of you." I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a matter." idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm "You have a clue?" in the dead of the night?' "It is possible." sake, don't!" posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to do.' know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you "Where, indeed?" through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the I leave." joking. unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in some place of shelter and let the county police know what has drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four if she died from some sudden fright." seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it brought there to personate someone, and the real person is "And you thought he was pulled back?" call for protection in the marriage market, for the present be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran "I will try. What is it?" "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." The summons was a brief and urgent one. "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." or other trace. But how on earth--" "The murder was done with it." will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for colour had been driven from his face. "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned future lives." through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of "This concluded the examination of the witness." eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits good-night and bustled off upon her way. which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that always that they were such commands as a lady might with that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no that you wished to speak to me?' reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" the station." Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest "One of the highest in England." caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was "Then I can wait in the next room." the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" hands. colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to see me here to avoid scandal." I approached. help us in this matter." the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" "You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very "'Why that?' I asks. lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it fish-monger and a tide-waiter." sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him "But I am all in the dark." that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such train.' however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of "Who by?" "Was she in good spirits?" Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her "Well."