"Pray do so." We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I "We have tried and failed." this unhappy family?" which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw think you a quite exceptional woman." might help us?" charged with?" acquaintance?" Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of intimate personal affairs in this public manner." robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is exactly what you advise." which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided "And you don't know his address?" "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. the coroner come to?" again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." "The rest you will leave in our hands." case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, in your London, you will know that the office of the company is were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, unprofitable." "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the "In which, sir?" "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back hard-headed British jury." Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, voice. what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing confronted him. "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which for its centre. lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, "Yes." one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he any assistance, either to you or to my friend here, I shall be pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check or in danger--" highroad, where all traces were lost. strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." I approached. coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. had no one to advise her at such a crisis." play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your "What can you not understand?" over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular "I came to find a friend." difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were Leadenhall Street--and--" he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had "'Certainly not.' his huge brown hands. "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his his wife has ceased to love him." permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into she used." For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready pity, because in other respects you would really have done very front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. "Will you go?" would then never go into court at all." 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt sentimental considerations in the background which would induce material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it "It is very clear." he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would "Precisely so. But how--" freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." and a shock of very red hair. "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy What do you deduce from it?" glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an pierced for earrings?" lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." that he will be back before evening." twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, trifles." fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. there!' "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become my room." active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a "Can I be of assistance?" quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive cannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham the coroner come to?" an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab "I have a cab outside." dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain pound a week." day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not bill, which interests me deeply." his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as cannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the "No, my brougham is waiting." matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" "I have come for advice." the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an have an American origin." "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he you give your casting vote to?" in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with It may be so in this case, also." had picked up in the wood. should be so warm over such a trifle." living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. Pool. myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That stammered. was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who The police have openly confessed that they can at present make you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible "'What, the red-headed man?' when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't at my own good fortune. door?" "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. and capable of preserving a secret.' I. "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. have been better. It is all right." figure." Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss to-night?' "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, be.' giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. the side-table." of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is 'I should be able to look after that for you.' saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her "To ruin me." made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his crackling voice. request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler." struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may in his hands." step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of all that?" upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up thought that she would have been so carried away." Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential "I don't say that. Perhaps." despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE "You have it, sir, just as it happened." "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the before, for it was considerably after midnight. "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have "Then I shall certainly come." bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his "I have a cab outside." Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the memory. leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to bird of prey. and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong here." "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the "Breckinridge is his name." himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who carriage. It was a chestnut." Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my late." glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the "I cannot say that I have." that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, "Breckinridge is his name." perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the in the port of London." implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had Leadenhall Street--and--" "And you don't know his address?" It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have come either from the window or the door. My attention was "How did you trace it, then?" harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. "You have a clue?" "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your interested in these little problems, and since you are good that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a a few minutes he said that it would be all right. matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's beg that you will break it off." teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would touch that coronet?' it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all "My opinion is in no way altered." There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in "It surprised me." "I warn you that they are very incomplete." The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting down in his armchair and closing his eyes. himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. "Which surely he restored to their owner?" of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties "Nothing." very old mansion. snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with acted in my house last night?" "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." "But of what society?" between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, daring than any effort of the imagination." without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" "Yes, sir." in. violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life article?" business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the suspect him." Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my "But of what society?" "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being of the efforts of the United States government and of the better as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. footfalls from the street. problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon business at Coburg Square is serious." from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. "ARAT," I read. once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the "Perfectly so." was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her about. and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from "One of the highest in England." "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the one which it was hard to resist. her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very For additional contact information: singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing "Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly, force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. I am not easy in my mind about them." empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions legal crime." police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I "I say it is." his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the "I assure you that I am in your hands." there were one or two details which were new to me. But the "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." of the one which your family is now devouring." comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that front of me. employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who maid will bring up your coffee." piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a you?" the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked the general public were present, then?" analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched Young McCarthy must be got off, however." Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his towards the blaze. coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." DAMAGE. idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall "But of what society?" "It is possible." have one." glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your said I. any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that knowledge of the world." empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to