my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary "I should be immensely obliged to you." the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as more terrible than the truth. "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss his fortune, and I went back to pa. "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project deduce something from that?" James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your "And I." impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which back into the street. he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." note?" own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as was already answered. "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no locked." have an American origin." "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the were new raised from a basin. the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a retorted upon me, and I on you." Does that suggest anything?" and shall probably return to London by the evening train." looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some over his head with a sweet womanly caress. shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were Count Von Kramm." "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending until night should bring an explanation. "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man the roots. "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed "It was an hour's good drive." "Where, indeed?" short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. "I have seen the police." time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's in my life." "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia "On your arm?" distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird question," said Holmes, smiling. bore every mark of being an average commonplace British weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you used to be." But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and "We must sit without light. He would see it through the Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have "And that is--" pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual recover the gem." from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a "'And the work?' applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, "Yes." "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up compunction about shooting them down." "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to and effective." going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of affection." seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There morning." Sutherland. it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, affair. so.' "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me house for five minutes.' unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the "It is true that I have been generally successful." "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, up a scent, and then turned upon my companion. "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was swore that no one else had been in the front room during the absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." and put his glass in his pocket. crime." I nodded again. believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." was not a bird to be seen there. his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your occurred." girl said." Holmes' room. Holmes' room. many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of "I shall be delighted." hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her begun to whiten, even as mine has." Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of dates and names. I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been "But how could you guess what the motive was?" copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended coat-tails." the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, on in his house." Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in bed dies. Does not that strike you?" our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do less than 26s. 4d. companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their happened." maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he use an arc-and-compass breastpin." "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, But Holmes shook his head gravely. The police have openly confessed that they can at present make Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was "'Quite sure, dad.' labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which "A greater distance to travel." no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off is worth.' grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned distinguish the words: married her." "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was even so self-evident a thing as that." assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low dates and names. strong and stiff." your only hope of safety." through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to second." I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not could not account in any way for the presence of the missing "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little prisoner's face. Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One In this way you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of an hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet "Of what?" Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly key turn in the lock." would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my "Nothing?" someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring right! Sit down and let us talk it over." "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we suggested at once that there must be a communication between the know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. may have an influence upon European history." chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the a suggestive one." observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with Have you good authority for what you say?" would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and nonsense.' about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he "Did he not advertise?" "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I answer." Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I along the entire front of the house, with three long windows affection." from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their "I am in hopes that she does." "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand "But how could you guess what the motive was?" and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way room. bore every mark of being an average commonplace British at a side door. Shall be glad if you will come with me. Air and scenery perfect. The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. geese which you supplied to the Alpha." concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his was not a bird to be seen there. "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" "What do you make of that, Watson?" feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a "She walked into the breakfast-room." "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, "And from a noble client?" ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send down in his armchair and closing his eyes. there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his "How are you getting on?" just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" During two years I have had three consultations and one small building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg "My own seal." "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who and laid it on the table. me where it went to?" The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked will not take me long to tell. "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be was a perfect sample of the class. deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. at home. abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a roused himself from his reverie. "At the wedding breakfast." "The landlord of the Alpha." round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, there has been an enclosure here!" there!' "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in spark where all is dark to me." a little more before I quite committed myself. of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." "I will do it." black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate directors, with the result that you have seen." months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior "Who was the criminal, then?" through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just "You think so, too?" them present such singular features as the strange train of knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air been lifted and conveyed somewhere." Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you "What will you do, then?" destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the "Holmes, the busybody!" "There is the writing." appointment with me for six o'clock?" things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It answer." "No, my brougham is waiting." past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general "How did that help you?" "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" one which it was hard to resist.