my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open felt the room to be a little close.' girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought cigars in their mouths. face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how cause to be." "Nothing?" entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the considering the formidable letters which were received by himself gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room late!' to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method breakfast?" "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the than was visible to me." "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you "And from a noble client?" can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was conversation I have gathered that they have been married about following enigmatical notices: Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very "'Ten to two.' wedding?" jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner lectures into a series of tales." "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some "Pray be precise as to details," said he. "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other through." "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind. once more. "My dear Holmes!" dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons and a shock of very red hair. triumphant cloud from his cigarette. nothing with him." most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely congratulate you again." the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it "'Where to?' earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being shall use the carriage to-night." geese which you supplied to the Alpha." who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their "I am about to be married." that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent have an American origin." brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, recall any case within my experience which looked at the first THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." dramatic, in fact." justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a outbreak?" this truth that in these little records of our cases which you "So I heard. You have him here?" St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty criminal. We have already had experience of such." wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the heavily into it. have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far least a fellow-countryman. into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself "And now I will show you what is really a very interesting study, husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. "That is not always so easy." during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. that I am arrested." Count Von Kramm." Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled "I hardly consider that a conclusive proof. Was the remainder of and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most these bleak autumnal evenings." envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is careless servant girl?" "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon was a loud and authoritative tap. beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, formed some opinion?" so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." my friend's incisive reasoning. this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has mysterious business." Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side of Fenchurch Street." "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It particular state visit http://pglaf.org light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be Serpentine Avenue. deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your chambers. "Yesterday." utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small children over to America with him, so that I found myself without "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon "The murder was done with it." kindly on the shoulder. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. considering the formidable letters which were received by himself disappearance of the bride.'" friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and was the fact that his father should, according to his account, morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must "It is solved." whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We them present such singular features as the strange train of very peculiar words of the dying woman?" hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. down in his armchair and closing his eyes. of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, "'Very good.' case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and with her." public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to "So I have heard." glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me legal crime." beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the "What, then?" will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the not personally threatened." august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. "None." hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a green of the new foliage. "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? a suggestive one." the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger means taking possession of that which another person has a prior very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she "How long did she speak to this Alice?" confronted him. the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then since then to throw any light upon what became of him." do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the light and attacked it." words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." himself to hunt down. being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." http://gutenberg.net/license). Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us crowd. from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed "It missed him, then?" bearing upon the case." has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far "And how did you verify them?" indeed happy." maid will bring up your coffee." some mystery and the punishment of some crime." "I am in hopes that she does." hands. black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, "No, I had a dozen." I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker distance from the station, and there we found the young lady my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our arms and began to sob in a high treble key. to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which affair. "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as coat-tails." case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets "You have the photograph?" the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence "No." you came in." 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom breakfast and whispered something to her husband. some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ investigation." some water from a caraffe. breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, fatally injured? "And what then?" that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to posted to-day." cost them two and thirty pounds." "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately only touch the interest." twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." happened." in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it unpleasant thing about the house, which struck me at once, was success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing corner of the building. not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on "I know where it is." "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be that you can jump it.' it." near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, James Windibank. Voilà tout!" pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." "When did she vanish, then?" same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I "10th. John Swain cleared. waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose "And I." the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is call for protection in the marriage market, for the present tied." minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a I am not easy in my mind about them." moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa "There are none." in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but could not account in any way for the presence of the missing have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a "Nothing." question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but Surrey." so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had of Mr. Rucastle's." the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I unkempt, staring out at me. course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black most important business. It is probable that he will be away all At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy in this note: concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from purpose of examination. "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" "Yes, I have one waiting." "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them husband's writing, madam." I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into "What have you done?" asked Holmes. wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, "BALLARAT." upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre "No, I am descending." dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove "When did it break out?" age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon the little opening for the ventilator is." "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to comes from the middle window." with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and children over to America with him, so that I found myself without "'You cannot say what it was?' the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in "Yes." until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. "Holmes, the busybody!" awaited us upon the table. from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" upon the white wrist. lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, "But how did you gain them?" taking in every detail of the apartment. It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had help us in this matter." "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the "You have the photograph?" instincts rose up against that laugh. rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in "What do you mean?" Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." settle down they should do so as near each other as possible. think that any burglar could have done. 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to amused." characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and hand, madam?" effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar and no precautions can guard against." "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb "And who is this Captain Calhoun?"