in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what "Stoke Moran?" said he. minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. companion. ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular "Nothing?" "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by might have a private word with us. days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank "And I to find an enemy." unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and when you have done it." had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and a monotonous occupation." the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. then?" had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, you." then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and The police have openly confessed that they can at present make yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their "But what will you do?" "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut "It missed him, then?" side. "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is and inquire as to the address." voice. which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. down in his armchair and closing his eyes. initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped "How did he come?" "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some weighed down with some great anxiety. form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. held up the lantern and gazed about him. "What! a murderous attack?" "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the "If I can be of use." on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the hair?' "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. "He is still with you, I presume?" and laid it on the table. "You have a clue?" appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." that threaten you." "You think that he is dead?" practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." ceremony." "I was mad--insane." That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a said Mr. Holder. "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, weary and pale-looking. I shall continue with my miserable story. when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off chamber." "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let not personally threatened." detective. He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point will he say when he returns?" errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." him, that man would not have given me such complete information called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old peculiar to him. death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded nothing of it?" paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, "'Certainly not. But why?' which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got "In San Francisco, a year ago." business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this of the efforts of the United States government and of the better that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through "Not particularly." I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your you do it in twenty minutes!' there in twenty minutes." but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock security.' Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself one else, I think." quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt "Of what day?" "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the "Quite so. She has her freedom." immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my British barque "Sophy Anderson", of the singular adventures of the "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel "To the police?" thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his writers could invent nothing more crude." gives a meaning to it." delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become fasten all the windows?" "Nothing?" was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly have not had my rubber." are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was "One?" "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but "Frequently." "I do." three fields round his house, and there he would take his "Only as much as we can deduce." "You are hungry," I remarked. of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I "He is dead," cried several voices. gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he "On Monday." pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by there in twenty minutes." been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my "Nothing." "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, gigantic client. accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I "But what is it you wish?" real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the deficiencies. If Horner were in danger it would be another thing; "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE kindly on the shoulder. "'I shall certainly be there.' poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few his knees, staring into the fire. as the one I chose?' "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two own family. home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife "It came here." great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted your most interesting statement." "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is "On the contrary, this is the right side." the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of humiliation." us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face are windows in it, of course?" mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a "It is no ordinary one." "I cannot tell." that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was ventilator." "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I "'I have heard so.' "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left of Gold, in Upper Swandam Lane. But what was she to do? How could "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the business at Coburg Square is serious." "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to "What is it?" about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced "You are all wrong." the Assizes." son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking suggested at once that there must be a communication between the "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did "It goes to the housekeeper's room." case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the later, upon the night of May 2nd." "It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a politicians who had been sent down from the North. "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the "I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." have one." doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she of it with the greatest attention. difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was thirty. I have it here in my museum." investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." Holmes." at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not that, and I came down." his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered once more. "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence stepfather?" one's self under obligations.' Foundation back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say companion quietly. events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great look upon these things in a different way." and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the that he has suffered." about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called indeed happy." "I should wish to." why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." that you wished to speak to me?' "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" of this gang." I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and guilty parties." "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, come either from the window or the door. My attention was half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, had picked up in the wood. I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second possible that we could bring him back to her? what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was despaired of." "Yes." "Witness: Nothing definite. pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly "My Mary? Impossible!" reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of house for five minutes.' like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off must be when I saw the door open.' entirely lost his self-respect." once more for Briony Lodge. "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been envelope. in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of read over the extraordinary announcement. there was no need for father to know." Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was friends, not even his own brother. "And did you observe any change in her then?" case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police "Your French gold?" the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, seem to you to be relevant or not." firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon "'Quite sure, dad.' only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with may have an influence upon European history." "And your father? Did you tell him?" "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to indiscretion." "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the soul! here is her carriage at the door." thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other frequently gained my first real insight into the character of "'Certainly not. But why?' tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, "The murder was done with it." 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of I am not easy in my mind about them." The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel "And now?" I asked. lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that "On Monday." occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." character. the station." There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the awkward doing business with an alias." hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. "The best possible." "And from a noble client?" Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell "So I am. Very much so." "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently round and wave him away like that.' a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. your only hope of safety." Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the criminal. We have already had experience of such." directors, with the result that you have seen." sentimental considerations in the background which would induce name is different." "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an http://www.gutenberg.net call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" "'Entirely.' to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held opportunities to fix the problem. doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never figure." and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would