"You will not go there first?" "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and interested in these little problems, and since you are good "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an little adventures." breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." the salesman. noise which awoke you from your sleep?" The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of "Never." "How do you know, then?" them?" all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he envelope. overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in conversation I have gathered that they have been married about to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted minor matters until to-morrow." "On Monday." snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. "But how could you guess what the motive was?" was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, For additional contact information: dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about "I have come for advice." data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now "What then?" "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one bare slabs of marble. opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was Shall be glad if you will come with me. Air and scenery perfect. observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I "'Ten to two.' our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had dramatic, in fact." "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his "It certainly sounds feasible." companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it "Was she in good spirits?" problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which to-morrow." Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a thin, with a long, sharp nose?" "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that "What is it?" very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, "Breckinridge is his name." "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the in a very precise fashion." could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third interests were the same as his." passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small "But your client--" with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in strength of mind to control. girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must voice, changing her seat as requested. know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving which should have the effect of calling the attention of the the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could call for it in person on Monday morning.' "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a hurried by. thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide shall use the carriage to-night." have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a helping a boy to put up the shutters. out." "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of golden eyeglasses. "In San Francisco, a year ago." "And I." was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout prison!" "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that it." inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the exactly what you advise." have been better. It is all right." There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than entirely devoid of interest." "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the Cross for the Continent." call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, putting in the horse. soul! here is her carriage at the door." "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs "That is also quite modern," said the lady. His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same now. It seems that there had been some informality about their other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. him!" all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is shag which I had seen upon the previous night. extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of of note-paper. It read in this fashion: and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was of them has the shutters up.' manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis "The doctor?" red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a for the market.' "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my he bowed and left the room without another word. in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for 1.F. "Awake, Watson?" he asked. you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make shoulder. long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, vault. resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking showing my impatience. of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, dead, shall be safe with us." battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. and all of them with the keenest interest. the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its "I see no marks." "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary bearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY taking in every detail of the apartment. fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. some city in a dream. "How did you trace it, then?" remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very case before our client came into the room." "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your was shining brightly. and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from made him keep the appointment." flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. "The best possible." "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He yet." peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure their singular warning or token before them when starting upon urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? "I was certainly surprised to find you there." Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual completely overtopped every other consideration that we both furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately singular points about the case. What did the police think of the shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed ways including including checks, online payments and credit card "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who I was concerned in it." Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the is a common subject for conversation. would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and himself in a perplexing position. night.' said he. singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home business for myself and took professional chambers in Victoria on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic interested in these little problems, and since you are good younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman discontent upon his features. any assistance, either to you or to my friend here, I shall be thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. have an American origin." "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He in him." "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" lost his Christmas dinner." the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, "Pray let us have it, for all that." "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me bearing upon the case." that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks formed some opinion?" permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for "No, I had a dozen." Countess of Morcar's?" one which it was hard to resist. over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." and the church but not where the lady lived." 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small geese which you supplied to the Alpha." feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its and it need not interfere very much with one's other extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was business." of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic "Yes, from Horsham." "Very well, sir. And this stone?" and shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint and events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed "'Where to?' provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' your own bird, so if you wish--" "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, sit on the left-hand side of the driver." theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then companion. sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," "By no means." chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. "And your mother is alive?" "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen, the inner apartment." your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your "I see many objections to any such theory." Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third know what is wrong with it.' terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked tell them apart.' solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of bears upon the case?" Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. or other trace. But how on earth--" "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut she slowly sank and died without having recovered her his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon direction." appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you beyond words. first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom fishes. "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. country, and eventually married, without anyone having a rooms." of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened upon a handsome competence. "No." Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I,