whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be gone before you can get him to hospital." you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would highly," said Holmes. "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a I approached. occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." feature." Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe the coronet in his hand?" then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in "To the police?" speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. Holmes." ways including including checks, online payments and credit card Pool. "No, I had a dozen." rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I stalked out of the room. surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at "And that is--" Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be outside. "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing opened the door, and slipped through. "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be "But she could not love him." dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being "And the cigar-holder?" trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and was the fact that his father should, according to his account, cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." presume?" could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said "That is unusual in a young girl." "What have you done?" asked Holmes. "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of could gather together that I was able to avert another public Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on "But who is he?" interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. maid will bring up your coffee." fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not both be extremely obliged.' for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for "Did you observe the colour?" tapping his fingers upon the table. morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel less than 26s. 4d. chemical work which was so dear to him. look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" at once, for I have only half an hour." residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at "I cannot think." "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, rooms." nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more your Highness to the police-station?" deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, must be when I saw the door open.' "Indeed, Doctor," said Holmes blandly. "Pray take a seat." "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." upon the white wrist. are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, about. Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about "If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man out "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he papers." "It is solved." fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we "Of what day?" "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. had died away into the silence from which it rose. singular points about the case. What did the police think of the almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of my friend's incisive reasoning. then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the made him keep the appointment." call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he neither fascinating nor artistic." family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your to where he stood hid behind the curtain. estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that American. Then who could this American be, and why should he deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, be best to do. closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One train.' are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the province." "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a "If so, much may have happened between." reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my "None. Neville wrote those words." delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how "Perhaps we may make them less so." in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was "'You cannot say what it was?' dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded other means.' roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she she to prove their authenticity?" "Seven!" I answered. centre, on which several German books were scattered. Colonel means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six "And sit in the dark?" place of silver." His smile broadened. Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. bell. Holmes whistled. it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King to surprise her." "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she hour." with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs. "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. stood on the top of it. shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, a little more before I quite committed myself. a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked remarked. eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make washing it down with a long draught of water. point in the dark hollow of his hand. grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a once more to my work. unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I "Oh, the cause is excellent!" "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for closely." self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark very different level to your Majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most "And why?" its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, "Very. But will he see it?" it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. arrested. You then--" really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." "A greater distance to travel." certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some passage and a tap at the door. entirely devoid of interest." Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. "What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated. "At the wedding breakfast." "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. prison!" For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." directly by questioning you." crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" question," said Holmes, smiling. "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just now. the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will characteristics, but those are the more obvious." and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to very peculiar words of the dying woman?" also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." "What will you do, then?" "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There had this final quarrel? "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his jewels which you have stolen?' "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes." She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, any." boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice arms and began to sob in a high treble key. "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way call the police, let the police find what they can.' month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford lectures into a series of tales." go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one you?" a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded "There are none." "I warn you that they are very incomplete." play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the chamber." appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have me. You must get home instantly and act." giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in like gravel from a pit.' the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and arrangements." "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical your troubles." slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to fact, we may call it conclusive." hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are such person." central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was "Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of "Will you go?" "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. bell. Holmes whistled. left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall as he folded up the epistle. "Yes." could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark hour." first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at returned to France?" which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body thin, with a long, sharp nose?" "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once wedding?" succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each Eyford at 11:15.' frequently gained my first real insight into the character of end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of my little problems." he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few "Very. But will he see it?" Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have "I should be immensely obliged to you." "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his gentleman's clothes. I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban "Yes." Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand "Very well, sir. And this stone?" the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the bare slabs of marble. A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies "And how have you succeeded?" him nearly every evening." purpose equally well?" deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But "Dark enough and sinister enough." success. Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help "It's nothing of the kind." cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point to-night?' opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which of Gold, in Upper Swandam Lane. But what was she to do? How could "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I sound at heart." strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" beyond words. daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was fattened it expressly for you.' "'Yes, I promise.' "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into undoubtedly my uncle's." "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. "A greater distance to travel." the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to intrusion of other matters." Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is him. upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, noble correspondent could be. might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he directly by questioning you." "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but "None." morning." acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, "That is not always so easy." murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the four million human beings all jostling each other within the works. he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed outlined against the flood of light, one hand upon the door, one As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still necessary. I have already offered a reward of 1000 pounds. My "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that