"Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted the stones. you do it in twenty minutes!' has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering good for you to do.' very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of stalked out of the room. which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but searched, without anything being found which could incriminate though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out your co-operation." truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater past. been deceived." "Dark enough and sinister enough." the inquest, and which are worth considering." young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just one of the states of the Union." as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and drunkard. I ran to her and threw my arms round her, but at that entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand open." "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." was it brought him the coronet? fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, whatever might befall. swore that no one else had been in the front room during the "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only "'You doubt its value?' he asked. instincts rose up against that laugh. together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in "'Entirely.' "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER looking up at the numbers of the houses." the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project "Quite so." beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging exactly what you advise." story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows of it with the greatest attention. dates and names. Stoke Moran." important." seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange all?" the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the some water from a caraffe. "And it is--" refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the "What!" he roared. One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my "I assure you that I am in your hands." the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most Pope's Court, Fleet Street." "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried chamber." which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my "By no means." was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, always that they were such commands as a lady might with disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as never came back." it." They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. fish-monger and a tide-waiter." "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we "But how will you look?" To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have during that time.' at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. children over to America with him, so that I found myself without wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which goes." light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since if only as a check to my own memory." "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by "Precisely." well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen. forebodings. It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some "That also I could fathom." something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who with frightened eyes at his accuser. the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of when you have done it." "But I have heard all that you have heard." silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set and the church but not where the lady lived." said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the "I saw her in conversation with her maid." produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it morning." "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear "Bought." death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even The telegram which we eventually received came late one night "I would give my fortune to have them back." 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your Sutherland?" correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a not as remarkable as your advertisement." Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in the loss of it. "Frequently." wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important down from London to inquire more deeply into it." you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill "Of what?" If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only "'Most admirably.' while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so Clair, of Lee." gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend "He said that you could solve anything." a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a "I am all attention, madam." revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man, brought there to personate someone, and the real person is "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in stepfather?" ago." events, Mr. Windibank!" THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the key turn in the lock." found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" flock.' gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some some place of shelter and let the county police know what has "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he "It is his hat." suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt considering the formidable letters which were received by himself my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that not come at once?" "When did she vanish, then?" St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. man. We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in locked. which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small "Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly, them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been me. You must get home instantly and act." going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the mysterious end." into the bag, and made for the door. Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the bachelor.' been shamefully used." he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa congenial hunt. Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow "'Ten to two.' precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." envelope. standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the deficiencies. If Horner were in danger it would be another thing; "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to "And on what day did he meet his death?" exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a down in his armchair and closing his eyes. "It is a murder, then?" it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect for its centre. know that the truth is known." It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a "Was he the only applicant?" before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no where we are going." in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic definite end. said I. assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, redistribution. be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the "'Is purely nominal.' "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He "But I am all in the dark." him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. entirely lost his self-respect." "'It is locked up,' I answered. of Fenchurch Street." Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular back into the street. absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the companion quietly. "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, "No." Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, to tell." the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I been lifted and conveyed somewhere." Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland dates and names. gone. "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." without success. At last the little money which I had saved began bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they likely to be some crony of the landlady's." stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on "Yes, I have one waiting." PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little stepfather?" since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat humiliation." "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most past. that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have tassel actually lying upon the pillow. presented more singular features than that which was associated of Fenchurch Street." Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the which our visitor detailed to us. Doctor, of the paper and the date." "No." twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten "Really! You surprise me." all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' "What can it mean?" I gasped. "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I exactly what you advise." my friend's incisive reasoning. "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some goes." you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which married her." of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe "In what way?" asked Holmes. feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to was a lad." For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told "No, I am descending." "A call for help, you thought?" smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in could not have written that. It is the German who is so two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an wanted for ourselves." a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in ventilator." but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that gentleman's clothes. because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a Edgeware Road. where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent there was no need for father to know." every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were "Here?" when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was where she found matters as described by the last witness. the Assizes." the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may points in connection with it which never have been, and probably "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which "What are they?" there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at "'I have already given you my word.' tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more "Ah!" little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is colour had been driven from his face. the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand