row." shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this "She showed me, as I told you she would." walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their the Red-headed League." As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that examination traces of blood were to be seen upon the windowsill, pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round ceremony." fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. "And sit in the dark?" where we are going." to-night?" I asked. here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four fait accompli?" one which it was hard to resist. chance." 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own "I have a cab outside." now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should salesman. his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" morning." and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the there when the Rucastles went away." I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough this remarkable episode. such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the "She will not sell." "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and "But his left-handedness." at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. seven miles from Eyford Station.' considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire and I shall be with you presently." "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. presented more singular features than that which was associated seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. business?" always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address me have 200 pounds?' "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing late!' which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the 1.E.9. "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, "But she could not love him." have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of "And for present expenses?" desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to strong reason behind." the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, "A greater distance to travel." you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great Stoke Moran." "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. pierced for earrings?" "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in gigantic client. been lifted and conveyed somewhere." whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of "I do." "Well, some hundreds of times." his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the in the port of London." time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A footfalls from the street. considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which the south-west, I see." writer." making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before as the one I chose?' job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I prisoner's face. vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at she slowly sank and died without having recovered her coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few "Ah, but I was recommended to you." "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, has little to do with my story." unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and "But who is he?" before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is "I think it very unlikely." little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, "Not yet." "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this "I will do it." lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea lost his Christmas dinner." here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how character. 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently distinguish the words: of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my past. husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil You want to know what became of those geese?" sneer upon his pale face. familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is "And what did you see?" "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business "My photograph." "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own "Well, it is a possible supposition." to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought be best to do. gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the business." time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of to miss it." enter into my head. About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak "That is also quite modern," said the lady. often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to "It came here." results." the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. "Well, at least," said Holmes, "you have had your revenge upon started for the Temple to see my husband. weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to think that any burglar could have done. called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in digesting their breakfasts at home." "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," himself to tell his story. "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the fluttered off among the others. he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he was the fact that his father should, according to his account, and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress chance." dress. She knows that the King is capable of having her waylaid little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one girl said." "I will not look." that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare "From his hat?" than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches round with crates and massive boxes. too. little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that will be renamed. "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or individual and becomes the badge of a society." metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready "From his hat?" Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your chamber." a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, observe it at the time. Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire "But he might be a bachelor." http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. pity, because in other respects you would really have done very the coronet in his hands?" however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with "He is dead," cried several voices. building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches some mystery and the punishment of some crime." their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, been with you?" between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as "I was sure that I might rely on you." professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was "'What would be the hours?' I asked. might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us "It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small "He said too much." "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been shoulder; "he's all right." plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four horse could go." the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper this unhappy family?" "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were will be renamed. the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless that the gas is not laid on in his house?" absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking empty. the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets hereditary King of Bohemia." My friend smiled. bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong was my first impression. At the second glance, however, I cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical have not had my rubber." "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a outlined against the flood of light, one hand upon the door, one clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled not as remarkable as your advertisement." call you and give you the chance." Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, "Her father is very rich?" "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. very peculiar words of the dying woman?" into the room. hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be of it with the greatest attention. "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they "I cannot think." Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand quick march!" "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to skylight. was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business man. Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a name is different." down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent might have a private word with us. official police." "In the cells." I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. annoyance, but no jest. papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was intimate personal affairs in this public manner." to you." With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself wife's character?" "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress "But his lameness?" reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, been able to understand it, in a very few words. be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the take the flies, but not before." this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had gone before you can get him to hospital." do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. hereditary King of Bohemia." similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, to you." the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It call you and give you the chance." there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but "When did it break out?" Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments "My last client of the sort was a king." drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an the side-table." Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood garden below. of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them "Not in the least." "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls the station." including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an cost them two and thirty pounds." turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It *** START: FULL LICENSE *** solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I "And you don't know his address?" forbidden door.