again, where I was soon asleep. "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not "Yes, they were peculiar boots." the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the ways of our fellow-men." see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is that you wished to speak to me?' My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, His smile broadened. "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means in his hands." Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side "A call for help, you thought?" "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." "'What, the red-headed man?' redistribution. "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from presented more singular features than that which was associated garden below. I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient prisoner's face. everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of conduct the inquiry." brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. seem to you to be relevant or not." it? Did I buy the geese off you?" emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. "By train from Waterloo." yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and ordinary clothes on?" of your young ladies.' it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would unprecedented a position." young Openshaw's." walking." "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his maid will bring up your coffee." front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you "You saw the ventilator, too?" "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view "Not in the least." Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name "You were travelling in the States?" leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, felt the room to be a little close.' daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he "Well, it is a possible supposition." ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." http://www.gutenberg.net treasure which we had under our roof, suppressing only the name civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, me have 200 pounds?' you understand?" building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us "An accident, I presume?" moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. arms and began to sob in a high treble key. me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I himself to tell his story. on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an whole matter to your consideration." wedding?" must compliment you." agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall signal between you and your father? London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching window, cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey "And you thought he was pulled back?" learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new "The best possible." "That is not always so easy." that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come has little to do with my story." I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad answered with a sidelong glance. "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after "I answered that I had not. abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a up this clue while it is still hot." my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, was shining brightly. out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient "Was the window open?" out of this horrible affair." "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps there in twenty minutes." sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" strange features which were associated with the two crimes which there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I "You have done wisely," said my friend. "But have you told me the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is help us in this matter." visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias brandy and water within his reach. pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. "How many? I don't know." in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was been anything against him. He had for years been known as a be.' Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to stalked out of the room. THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled "But what harm can there be in that?" flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will "I fear not." A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your yet." unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black everything which you would wish to know." and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and "Pray continue your narrative." green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke him to be an active member of the medical profession." used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that official police." not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a "What is it, then?" I asked, for his manner suggested that it was case-book, which he consulted. where she found matters as described by the last witness. mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have His smile broadened. "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And that threw himself down with his face to the pillow. Clair, of Lee." always that they were such commands as a lady might with "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man. His telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year "Did you become engaged then?" Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case which our visitor detailed to us. half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough friends, not even his own brother. public press." "My own seal." this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down "'Where could I find him?' forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror read over the extraordinary announcement. "Yes, all." "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a "Could he throw no light?" "No." to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, you?' thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if "Ah!" mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I newspaper selections." "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and and effective." which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an telegram would bring me down to your help." Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE wife's character?" asked. "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old signal between you and your father? and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of *** START: FULL LICENSE *** "'Where to?' say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. that he was averse to a marriage with so charming a young lady as Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me "You were travelling in the States?" sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to "You did not overhear what they said?" "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished The police have openly confessed that they can at present make not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than touch that coronet?' bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the asked with his eyes open. "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the notes," he said. twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a said Mr. Holder. opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of "Only as much as we can deduce." I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." "Has he come with you to-night?" course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. morning." male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be Good-afternoon, Miss Stoner. You see that we have been as good as had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with you." from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and "Now, then, what's the last entry?" and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt spare." "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; meanly of me." tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he But Holmes shook his head gravely. photograph?" "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the "That is it on the dressing-table." know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took and capable of preserving a secret.' again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have "I know where it is." "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which "What can you not understand?" go back?" in one or two places in England?' on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who have I gained?" believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers "That is not always so easy." bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it room. seven miles from Eyford Station.' "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. question. Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide tension within him. "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you "I see no marks." again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, "No." For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." Clair, of Lee." lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact examination of the premises, but without finding anything which time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always are windows in it, of course?" indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped "I am following you closely," I answered. and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I manager. populous neighbourhood." "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the spare." "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall "I saw her in conversation with her maid." half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head outside." "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about "I am still in the dark." the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? details." which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a "'There is a drive, then?' makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you "How about poison?" I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that recall any case within my experience which looked at the first white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the and shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint and "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the woman who has had her own way to make in the world. there is a decided draught." against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and "I have solved it." England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the "How did you trace it, then?"