tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the "'Ample.' he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, "That sounds a little paradoxical." wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over past. "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and "His face fell immediately. were wasted." here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat "Game for a morning drive?" "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could should be so warm over such a trifle." William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London "And your mother is alive?" into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the "And who is her maid?" "Perhaps we may make them less so." abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much "And how have you succeeded?" "I cannot say that I have." some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the over part of the map. "What do you read?" lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she once more for Briony Lodge. "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." "How do you know, then?" three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the charge against him will break down." as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, "Yes, sir." "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical suddenly upon us." signal between you and your father? always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings manager. room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he London for the present?" serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a arrangements." somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and the house with me." gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." leaning back in his chair. will take you up to see the machine.' drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, "We were both in the photograph." But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and there when the Rucastles went away." him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? never came back." difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward posted to-day." "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. in a friendly supper." dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, so.' key turn in the lock." "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny lips." papers." "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you seven miles from Eyford Station.' the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. intrusion of other matters." boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to the window, rose as we entered. the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his Project Gutenberg-tm works. the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the cause to be." had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. went to the Alpha were town bred." frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features deficiencies. If Horner were in danger it would be another thing; daring than any effort of the imagination." and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. matters immensely." Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at "Certainly." "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate and no precautions can guard against." was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I have not had my rubber." my little problems." to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon as this. Pray let me have the details." danger is over." "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you "But to whom?" "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. directors, with the result that you have seen." 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled photograph?" 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in colour had been driven from his face. they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in easy-going way." and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard "Where did he live, then?" "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was foot. about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, hardly wander." two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and "Do you receive much company?" he asked. without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and "I am about to be married." "'About the same.' in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I late." platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an it right.' week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding an introduction to him?" you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became the side-table." the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. "And the murderer?" "The gentleman I describe." the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, ordinary clothes on?" the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in "My photograph." train from Paddington which would bring you there at about washing it down with a long draught of water. boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar lips." the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The deduce something from that?" "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me thought that she would have been so carried away." the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a up a scent, and then turned upon my companion. already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which ashen face. Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned "Pray do so." of the way of danger. into the room. "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his the window, rose as we entered. Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and "No good news?" Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If manager. "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the "Were they all fastened this morning?" varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the "Why serious?" over with notes and figures. moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders there!' reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. "She showed me, as I told you she would." had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked wife's character?" the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight "And what did you see?" description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is Eyford." mysterious business." "Very well, sir. And this stone?" "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of Cross for the Continent." adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a "How can you tell that?" with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our weighed down with some great anxiety. determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, one or two very singular points about this room. For example, course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was "But who is he?" this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. the south-west, I see." happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in during the last few years, and there are many noble families to "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and "Which surely he restored to their owner?" tightly behind him. International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make furiously. "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the Street. "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in a good hundred miles off by now." other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and it." ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working "The King of Scandinavia." As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the lectures into a series of tales." "But she could not love him." indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present man. We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it "Is he quiet?" from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a within hail.' brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring relief. How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we particular state visit http://pglaf.org and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land "The King of Scandinavia." shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious think that he is innocent?" interests were the same as his." ordinary clothes on?" "Yes, it was twisted." at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought whereabouts. Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I populous neighbourhood." distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two "To the police?" "And when will you call?" inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: "You have it, sir, just as it happened." bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On "And I to find an enemy." reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your "And who is her maid?" DISSOLVED. contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his that I may have something better before very many minutes are upon the shelf for the interim." "I say it is." "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. a little more before I quite committed myself. think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as to arrive at through this?" floor. fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he "We must sit without light. He would see it through the Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. papers diligently of late, have you not?" "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who "Absolutely?" in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really she slowly sank and died without having recovered her been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for be. grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and "Whose house is it?" you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. "Has he come with you to-night?" case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. "And your mother is alive?" stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there paper in the air. transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." "That is not always so easy." my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself "I have hopes." think, you have already met." "Very murderous indeed." actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps exactly what you advise." of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of who was a member of your goose club." former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there power." after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen "A client, then?" the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing "So it appears." in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore late." "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a Lestrade of Scotland Yard." doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from that you can jump it.' an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend skylight. 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of it." know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was British peeress.'" answer." "I hardly consider that a conclusive proof. Was the remainder of interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the frequently gained my first real insight into the character of bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms "And how did you find out?" The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all "Yes." way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a "Texas, I think." "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some