roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the settle down they should do so as near each other as possible. money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then "Breckinridge is his name." among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is American. Then who could this American be, and why should he where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was shoulder; "he's all right." "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this was a loud and authoritative tap. "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, "I never have." an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying "I came to find a friend." careless servant girl?" and prosperity to your house. Good-night." "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a people in all walks of life. be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George to us from amid the mad elements--blown in upon us like a sheet the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful neither fascinating nor artistic." "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting be.' "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I this truth that in these little records of our cases which you from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought "I am still in the dark." "No good news?" tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her look dissatisfied." The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how "When did she vanish, then?" more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and quickly through a disagreeable task. A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six "Where to?" arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." giving me time to thank him. "What of the rat, then?" from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! "Well." waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming what these perils are?" younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him secret." own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen, uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. place, I think that there is good ground to think that the "Yes, sir." the best of training." Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been other means.' very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped goes." revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back developed." I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. "Your sister is dead, then?" leave you to your papers for a little." "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave Henry Baker is a member." profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the "You have but to name it." away in different directions, and I went off to make my own covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with could go. breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which completely overtopped every other consideration that we both money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small "ARAT," I read. expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. "To an end?" is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." "Why serious?" than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, "Then I can wait in the next room." have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had laugh and put his lips to my ear. lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. "'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely London for the present?" year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked again before evening." manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he miles off. The King stared at him in amazement. laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. "Oh, yes, easily." stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the or in danger--" "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" loudly expressed admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed that tail." branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an or other trace. But how on earth--" The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a must be when I saw the door open.' Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of "So I have heard." passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps written. consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the "And I." was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in he. at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced "And what did you learn from him?" and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," situation." they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which father's place of business?" His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the "In San Francisco, a year ago." I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as examination traces of blood were to be seen upon the windowsill, trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey me what he had done with the three missing stones. the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it in. character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. to where he stood hid behind the curtain. the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was mysterious end." "Has he come with you to-night?" the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held room?" "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But unkempt, staring out at me. to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, which our visitor detailed to us. Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a "None." "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut him to be an active member of the medical profession." his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel was the fact that his father should, according to his account, with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything "'It is locked up,' I answered. The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. his face. but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like you in yours." as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole "I am armed." "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by there!' gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of once more on the important position which you have been fortunate specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt arms and began to sob in a high treble key. a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of "Was he the only applicant?" It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered sake, don't!" and the whole place is in a blaze." business at Coburg Square is serious." third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging you give your casting vote to?" is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." appeal." The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the "It is to him that this trophy belongs." words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential "Tired-looking or fresh?" "No." "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a she used." the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret brought there to personate someone, and the real person is say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." "Yes." "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the any." "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. sound at heart." "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you "Look there!" said he. law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No bird I ate is country bred." animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do strong and stiff." gentleman's clothes. completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried few hundred pounds.' "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a subject to the trademark license, especially commercial politicians who had been sent down from the North. "It goes to the housekeeper's room." stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and enough to aid us in our search." promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, I am not easy in my mind about them." the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll not, dad?" she asked. "I am still in the dark." tightly behind him. Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: forebodings. It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and "'You doubt its value?' he asked. reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a the so-precious time, but come!' often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" "10th. John Swain cleared. but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows I took the paper from him and read as follows: subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she go back?" all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me best detective that ever lived. "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must derbies." "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in to have been novel and of interest." pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us shoulder; "he's all right." suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. "Then you may be so with me." "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be the armchair which I pushed forward for him. commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the "What then?" scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my ran thus: body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly 1.E.9. there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," "Very well, sir. And this stone?" It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." "I cannot say that I have." paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I "No sign of it?" "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you your own bird, so if you wish--" work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still his wife has ceased to love him." all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were Holmes rather sternly. to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the American. Then who could this American be, and why should he served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little went to the Alpha were town bred." "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." whereabouts. Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper of note-paper. It read in this fashion: "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, "Perhaps I have." He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or golden eyeglasses. quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to "Not him." eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the events, Mr. Windibank!" "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note,