these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" night.' said he. young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who do.' low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the "What, then, did Peterson do?" disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point fashion which was peculiar to him. annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all the very morning of the wedding." first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the beyond words. He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might disturbance in my wife." have established a very serious case against the son of the "Stolen." wall." "The doctor?" prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is started for the Temple to see my husband. judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a in him." highly," said Holmes. of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that papers must be those that are destroyed.' be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT started for the Temple to see my husband. right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. "Look there!" said he. seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your "And who is her maid?" we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a "May I see it?" "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same and glanced through. deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, "Will you bet, then?" "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became "The Coroner: What do you mean? was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten several quiet little villages up there." smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all "Nor running a chance of arrest?" "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he "Oh, the cause is excellent!" it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe "Your French gold?" though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to "And you can do nothing until then?" have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, "10th. John Swain cleared. cost them two and thirty pounds." side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and whereabouts. cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should experiences." room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. "What will you say?" signal between you and your father? my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with is entirely a question of barometric pressure." had formerly been in part my own. could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a laugh and put his lips to my ear. delirious. let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith of this gang." civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever some place of shelter and let the county police know what has propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped to-night." "None." society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a copied or distributed: broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and "My dear Holmes!" roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you "Nothing." respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in "'What, the red-headed man?' "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet south, for the country is more deserted there." morning." are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to Holmes. ways including including checks, online payments and credit card wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could the Friday. Was it to be in church?" decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass laugh and put his lips to my ear. "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his there were so many in the whole country as were brought together "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would system of imprisonment?" horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which "'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." "There are none." his forehead." "No, I had a dozen." "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." "No more words. Get out!" their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, secret." when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the "So I heard. You have him here?" confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, http://gutenberg.net/license). When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a copied or distributed: the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and "'I have heard so.' however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been arrangements." a little more before I quite committed myself. we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more "Tired-looking or fresh?" success. "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the situation." better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an triumphant cloud from his cigarette. mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in "Certainly, madam." called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private trifles." offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge writers could invent nothing more crude." "There is the writing." him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable hurried away. I nodded to show that I had heard. and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the "It is true that I have been generally successful." murdered man." I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I father's young wife. "'And what salary do you ask?' quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with gbnewby@pglaf.org cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man, down. of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since "And sit in the dark?" suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast Shall be glad if you will come with me. Air and scenery perfect. appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to was my first impression. At the second glance, however, I midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can "Why did you pick him?" pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles "Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return returned to France?" good-night and bustled off upon her way. him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. "Entirely." "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line "And the cigar-holder?" moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me papers on the sundial.'" the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated "Then he might have called to you?" that there was nothing in it, after all." "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty as he remarks, very much against the son." Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No details should find their way into the papers. Inspector You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up asked. acted in my house last night?" "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could your own bird, so if you wish--" headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the me have 200 pounds?' so far?" word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, strode off upon his way. yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And have accepted such a situation. minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of have one." house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in golden eyeglasses. fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire "Yes. He waved his hands." friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I key of the affair now." I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with "Yes. He waved his hands." man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by humiliation." way in everything. and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a me. You must get home instantly and act." abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and "Certainly, madam." "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he the City, did some shopping, proceeded to the company's office, fell over into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but the "He is dead," cried several voices. of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you that I am arrested." A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they to have been novel and of interest." horse could go." doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." himself to hunt down. "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, "That's no good." on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand "Nothing?" tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was "Certainly." International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make will be renamed. of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." "'Never,' said I. the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' humiliation." "Not in the least." "Yes, he did." Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I grasp, he hurried from the room. fait accompli?" "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent "Where did he live, then?" Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to kindly on the shoulder. call the police, let the police find what they can.' mystery." "She told me to ask you." lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, lids now and glanced across at his visitor. true." which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter records." "It missed him, then?" With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." where Mr. Fordham shows you.' Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw been deceived." which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to 1.F. knowledge of the world." his wife has ceased to love him." How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to "'What then?' I asked. the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through correct than the official force." "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck then?" "Yes. He waved his hands." tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" "'Is purely nominal.' open." prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not present." "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than "When did it break out?" Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San companion. continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a murdered man." journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after "You have the photograph?" "'Yes, sir.' Stoke Moran." younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little eavesdroppers?' the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the gone before you can get him to hospital." indiscretion." are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I "In heaven's name, what for?" "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. never came back." before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never "I am following you closely," I answered. I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! over with notes and figures. those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have humiliation." you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of my room." article?" headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!'