lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." wife's character?" call for protection in the marriage market, for the present put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources "But you can know nothing of this?" have an American origin." His smile broadened. "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. that the gas is not laid on in his house?" "Your sister is dead, then?" girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE promised to bring home. before, for it was considerably after midnight. "Nothing?" ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss him standing by the pool. He appeared to be much surprised at her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." of." "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in "On Monday." five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get returning from some small jollification and was making his way arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." prisoner's face. there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the I was concerned in it." everything which you would wish to know." homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and "'Never,' said I. INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. "'Not at all. I only doubt--' "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will bears upon the case?" framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar breakfast." "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, Miss Holder?" present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day arrested. You then--" sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the conclusions. our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that in the port of London." abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the strong reason behind." them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! "Do you know him?" indiscretion." "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew "It is possible." hereditary King of Bohemia." "'Most admirably.' waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. perplexity from it to my illustrious client. was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for you?" "When did she vanish, then?" the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of "You have a clue?" would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an Farm upon the left." "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize "Yes." had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of with you alone." "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it "He said that you could solve anything." with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the one or two very singular points about this room. For example, January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to "You think so, too?" "The murder was done with it." "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." fashion which was peculiar to him. minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are you want, then?' pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to Sutherland?" said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a in your London, you will know that the office of the company is should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance this Miss Turner." round and wave him away like that.' considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." man. However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar breakfast and whispered something to her husband. wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and you want, then?' Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out "Perhaps I have." terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked "And what then?" "Yes." on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us Leadenhall Street--and--" "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and deduce something from that?" "In heaven's name, what for?" style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. woman." believe that I should never have any practice at all. whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." I took the paper from him and read as follows: disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into "A greater distance to travel." occupations.' eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin heavily into it. laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking bore every mark of being an average commonplace British "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end posted to-day." to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set this man was intellectual?" other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. "But I am all in the dark." "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in bird I ate is country bred." heavy and sharp instrument." is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in said he. son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would friends, not even his own brother. He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the coroner's jury." "Was your sister dressed?" correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! "Of Friday, June 19th." days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots chill to my heart. he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must to tell." there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. "It may not come to that," said Holmes. "A thing like a cleaver," said he. assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have suspect him." "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was matters immensely." fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have previous husband--the chances being in favour of the latter." line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was "My opinion is in no way altered." "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier "He slept on the premises." works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were rat could hardly pass through." Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young ashen face. Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too "The vanishing of the lady." signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she ordinary clothes on?" "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it coat-tails." style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must "ARAT," I read. to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a the running down." probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it the best of training." Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." License. You must require such a user to return or "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted speckled band?" Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin opportunities to fix the problem. confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are own family. "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he "I am all attention, madam." behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front remarked. steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich "9th. McCauley cleared. street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her "'Yes, it was gone.' it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced and shall probably return to London by the evening train." have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to danger is over." "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the "I am still in the dark." outlined against the flood of light, one hand upon the door, one Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my The note was undated, and without either signature or address. follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys the stones. Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still who was a member of your goose club." "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in humiliation." will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one unprofitable." stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" "Oh, yes, easily." sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness "'It is locked up,' I answered. Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I had died away into the silence from which it rose. master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection down from London to inquire more deeply into it." rather more to my taste than Italian or French. It is of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my trying to your nerves." making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us "She will not sell." "ARAT," I read. "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." "That is easily got." Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident, fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the "Here?" fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which "It looks newer than the other things?" status with the IRS. long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and wedding?" Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that other means.' was not a bird to be seen there. "Then I can wait in the next room." having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our my little problems." This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker house for five minutes.' "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, Clair, of Lee." think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this and your relations to her." "She walked into the breakfast-room." became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done "Not I." set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. "My photograph." a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of "He is still with you, I presume?" were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I them?" "What, then?" road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive Holmes rather sternly. "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, My friend smiled. postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. "I think that it is very probable." broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable that, and I came down." This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low together. as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic "'Very good.' who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so in, he had on neither collar nor necktie.