shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very "Of what?" severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a to have been novel and of interest." staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action careless servant girl?" thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at British barque "Sophy Anderson", of the singular adventures of the He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, once more. the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during official police, but it is not pleasant to have a family I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an married her." distance from the station, and there we found the young lady strong reason behind." the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed 1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: to Leatherhead. interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you who is not only proficient in his profession but is also discreet Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. "An accident, I presume?" recover the gem." entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. night.' said he. if she died from some sudden fright." where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." The note was undated, and without either signature or address. less than 26s. 4d. he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his "Certainly." down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have lost. Nothing but energy can save you. This is no time for detained." "But who is he?" she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification bled considerably." you in yours." really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed all-comprehensive glances. "I will get her to show me." prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." "Will you go?" perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were necessary. I have already offered a reward of 1000 pounds. My if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is "Yes, it was twisted." coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had "None." dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a His smile broadened. "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down as this. Pray let me have the details." dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to very morning of my second wedding." "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, other, as fresh and trim as possible. back to my heart. "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to he bowed and left the room without another word. "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with "Quite so." Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own as the one I chose?' "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a McCarthy's innocence. there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that the nursery. "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the "Yes." problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the leaning back in his chair. Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the might help us?" which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a your most interesting statement." me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any "Well, it is a possible supposition." you?' them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." "Was your sister dressed?" this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! "Awake, Watson?" he asked. "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, "I am all attention, madam." "'And the work?' "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months upon the sideboard." though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have "Dirty?" some mystery and the punishment of some crime." mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of During two years I have had three consultations and one small closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, business at Coburg Square is serious." precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." "I see many objections to any such theory." "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not "No, finished." not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently Chief Executive and Director staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to "In the cells." face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and charged with?" Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the him to be an active member of the medical profession." all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to good for you to do.' dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the wedding?" had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite coroner's jury." and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a "I cannot imagine." "'Oh, no.' window when the police appeared." possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up Cross for the Continent." his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and "What! Had he lost his wife?" Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case fatally injured? the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the What do you deduce from it?" sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had Shall be glad if you will come with me. Air and scenery perfect. rather more to my taste than Italian or French. It is Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. a very grave face. down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the carpenter." order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was cause to be." very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite generous with you in money matters.' "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be fashion which was peculiar to him. When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end whatever might befall. 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to when you have done it." high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east "I don't say that. Perhaps." "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself "And for present expenses?" head. So long, then!" I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove "The murder was done with it." broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad "What is it?" and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." "Very murderous indeed." "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have "Was the window open?" "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which a very grave face. of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, address. round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had Pool. filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through Holmes rather sternly. Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining not personally threatened." "'What, the red-headed man?' struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to the best of training." Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all "No, finished." ready to-morrow?' profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a along the entire front of the house, with three long windows before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my them, and came down just as you departed. case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly "More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There "Has he come with you to-night?" go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, "She showed me, as I told you she would." "It is no ordinary one." invisible to me," I remarked. to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. away into the river." would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to daring than any effort of the imagination." the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of "Was the window open?" weigh very heavily upon my conscience." which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in presume?" breakfast and whispered something to her husband. "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and "I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated whatever might befall. To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden character. "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to said he. must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do "'Never.' person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She "Pray continue your narrative." which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My and inquire as to the address." her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a imbecility!" he cried. coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the "Very well, sir. And this stone?" Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual danger is over." go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being of." with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, "In what way?" asked Holmes. "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but with the outside air!" uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible shag which I had seen upon the previous night. "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other are, and they are waiting for us." learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are delighted to hear it," he said. "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, the driver. "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and threw himself down with his face to the pillow. "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. "Frequently." "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his "This photograph!" an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I in one or two places in England?' felt?" world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my "Your French gold?" would apply.' little trying to do so much typewriting?" "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless drawing your inferences." They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me "And what then?" home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer already been minutely examined." "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, very peculiar words of the dying woman?" difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they "Your French gold?" that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." "'Never.' "But the mystery?" "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for most interesting one." burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" do you make of it all?" platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an