"You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little discontent upon his features. ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most "And how did you find out?" Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after stammered. have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns infinite languor in his face. Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out constraint." which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter wedding?" the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost "I say that I have solved it." "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One never came back." coat-tails." consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course the so-precious time, but come!' "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in individual and becomes the badge of a society." was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the envelope. anything to a woman, for she would have her way." to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised "Yes." absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, there in twenty minutes." dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, questioning and rather startled gaze. lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you "I shall most certainly do so." up a scent, and then turned upon my companion. across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might "How can you tell that?" in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four your bag." good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his was feeling which was the fattest.' stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. "I have seen the police." highroad, where all traces were lost. Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." "Look there!" said he. my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The letters?" Young McCarthy must be got off, however." a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a events, Mr. Windibank!" years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a Leave Paddington by the 11:15." Street. singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me "I am following you closely," I answered. many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety the station." call for it in person on Monday morning.' Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. are windows in it, of course?" to-morrow." took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once "We must sit without light. He would see it through the existence." know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there "Not him." And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without "And how did he make his money?" the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. "But not more so than I to find you." dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an the very letters. But what is this written above them?' approach us with offers to donate. drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. "I am about to be married." two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me sentimental considerations in the background which would induce the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should should be taken.' the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a "'Why that?' I asks. lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in and I shall be with you presently." that you can jump it.' "He slept on the premises." "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in never to learn it at all." given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his "It may not come to that," said Holmes. hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is "'You cannot say what it was?' "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. "What office?" to talk it over. low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her "That sounds a little paradoxical." doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. "'Oh, no.' "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man anything to a woman, for she would have her way." against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. "We must sit without light. He would see it through the Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper tension within him. adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have face and glided from the room. Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally flock.' metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself Holmes. it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed swore that no one else had been in the front room during the crowd. above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, him!" "You don't mind breaking the law?" has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a entirely lost his self-respect." that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case "One of his hands." inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend "Yes, they were peculiar boots." third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored "I am all attention, madam." orange pips. collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his Serpentine Avenue. difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should him. consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new whether it answered to the description of any of their farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her 809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email business in the City. She little knew what. "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and "But how did you gain them?" stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. row." The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." Holmes. smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would "The Coroner: What do you mean? "Of what?" at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that use an arc-and-compass breastpin." foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the conduct the inquiry." "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with "So it appears." She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are "I have my revolver," said I. empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he "In heaven's name, what for?" planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had awaited us upon the table. say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the affection." we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers was shining brightly. have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked should be so warm over such a trifle." there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made society." connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to that I am arrested." hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful help us in this matter." clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round "My stepfather's business papers." "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was centre, on which several German books were scattered. Colonel too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each "Won't it ring?" it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see memory. Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. "It came here." paper in the air. occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She hardly wander." for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he "How often?" inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has that, and I came down." called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. suspect him." already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to "But she could not love him." about. his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life "So I am. Very much so." his cane at the bell-pull. very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her new acquaintance to Baker Street. ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to village inn over there?" "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course that I can to serve you." terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall obstinate." front of me. "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? your troubles." the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her there is a decided draught." parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael helping a boy to put up the shutters. coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." previous husband--the chances being in favour of the latter." that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, corner of the building. notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, "Proceed, then." said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." "Of what?" then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on "Yes." through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. never went wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I'll "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" happened." "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all "Nothing?" "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too the coronet in his hands?" key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His The summons was a brief and urgent one. very different level to your Majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one of note-paper. It read in this fashion: gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. locked." hereditary King of Bohemia." and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a "I came to find a friend." central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is away to you." about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and of the way of danger. "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock "Whose house is it?" mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her wedding?" everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to very different level to your Majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was not within a twentieth part of the market price." was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project tension within him. demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next to change my dress. "Nothing." "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and over his head with a sweet womanly caress. "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the "Was the window open?" its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had a room. "What! a murderous attack?" One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' she has been waylaid. There has been no result." strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler." face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had companion quietly. recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small with the outside air!" room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, dress. She knows that the King is capable of having her waylaid "I guessed as much." case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, where we are going." he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, "But what will you do?" "You have a clue?" considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point and glanced through. few hundred pounds.' himself to hunt down. Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well "Ah!" mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you "'I have already given you my word.' grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the maid will bring up your coffee." was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" be best to do.