disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. "And Miss Sutherland?" professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of triumphant cloud from his cigarette. round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power "'What would be the hours?' I asked. when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just him." "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly "I was mad--insane." fuss that is made over them." that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father strength." "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, chance." "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place him nearly every evening." shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. fell over into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but the twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident, satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made "Not particularly." "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own some place of shelter and let the county police know what has weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where about here speaks of his kindness to him." dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied. George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. opportunities to fix the problem. "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of where Mr. Fordham shows you.' that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might "How many? I don't know." sentimental considerations in the background which would induce very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not "At the wedding breakfast." "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late over his head with a sweet womanly caress. great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came present." pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client "But your client--" say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you which our visitor detailed to us. it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all "Certainly, madam." pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense writing, and yet I know it well." you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK has little to do with my story." parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far "Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads drunkard. I ran to her and threw my arms round her, but at that of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes perplexity from it to my illustrious client. adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a bled considerably." broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands "I would pay ten." his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your with you?" Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and particular state visit http://pglaf.org preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might Arthur Conan Doyle self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent "Precisely so. But how--" stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind. George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil "Witness: Nothing definite. "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in "Perhaps we may make them less so." "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" events than those which have happened in my own family." Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest which it had come upon my father." Mr. Hatherley," said he. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself comes from the middle window." "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he "I was sure that I might rely on you." suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to "You think that he is dead?" "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and status with the IRS. she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE prison!" character. My friend smiled. "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated Pope's Court. and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." "About a month then." Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to "'Is purely nominal.' I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a "Yes." "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If gives a meaning to it." firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of companion imperturbably. "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, ready to-morrow?' which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." "And what did you see?" precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." waiting for him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather legal crime." so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the lost. Nothing but energy can save you. This is no time for perplexity from it to my illustrious client. from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the highroad, where all traces were lost. when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' "Why did you pick him?" "And your father? Did you tell him?" it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here suddenly upon us." "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in breakfast?" McCarthy's innocence. public press." before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in the little opening for the ventilator is." a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you him and tried to hold him back. "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. respectable self." with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, "'What, the red-headed man?' blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the which our visitor detailed to us. tear off another piece?' "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. them?" "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a unclasping of his long thin hands. with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would "And now?" I asked. "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man. His chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and "Was he the only applicant?" he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in was not a bird to be seen there. "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see if I call to-morrow?" me. him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow "Yes." Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as appeal." golden eyeglasses. our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended felt the room to be a little close.' "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that emerged. to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a laugh and put his lips to my ear. "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, "It is a murder, then?" when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her have taken place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as nights." http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg with you?" to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a pity, because in other respects you would really have done very "That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter. shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in rather more to my taste than Italian or French. It is would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of at my remark. and inquire as to the address." "My own seal." "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." your sleep?' the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists Henry Baker is a member." am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you what do you think they found in the pockets?" of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum "I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his the address that was given us in the advertisement. your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are "Your sister is dead, then?" cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote better grown goose." some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. acquaintance?" questioning and rather startled gaze. "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her "Yes." play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been breakfast and whispered something to her husband. stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in Heh?' room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. criminal. We have already had experience of such." sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to them, and came down just as you departed. placed his cuttings. the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still You want to know what became of those geese?" daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which leaning back in his chair. forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything she might be summoned. his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face London for the present?" noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and without success. At last the little money which I had saved began propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' "Yes." rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: chance at all." disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful felt the room to be a little close.' on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as official police." applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but British barque "Sophy Anderson", of the singular adventures of the loudly expressed admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began been able to understand it, in a very few words. best detective that ever lived. and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. that I may have something better before very many minutes are "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds "What, then?" she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave it." closely." "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no to have been novel and of interest." and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after opportunities to fix the problem. hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his "To an end?" Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of three fields round his house, and there he would take his was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured Mary, has deserted me." its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and But Holmes shook his head gravely. bare slabs of marble. "Well, at least," said Holmes, "you have had your revenge upon judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. "One?" "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of interested in these little problems, and since you are good upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped Edgeware Road. every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on his wife has ceased to love him." has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly "Imitated." can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. his fortune, and I went back to pa. the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the feature." "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common unclasping of his long thin hands. like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two friends, not even his own brother. had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A chambers. "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may "'Yes, I promise.' train from Paddington which would bring you there at about transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had Leadenhall Street--and--" this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent entirely devoid of interest." "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is cigars in their mouths. "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for "Could he throw no light?" the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the of the way of danger. transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that I took the paper from him and read as follows: papers must be those that are destroyed.' "Her father is very rich?" paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted