treasure which we had under our roof, suppressing only the name lamp in his hand. Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek skylight. lumber-room." "Entirely." police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a posted to-day." "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency "Very good, Lestrade," said Holmes, laughing. "You really are "Then I am your man." estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the unkempt, staring out at me. wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet "I will not look." Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some you found me to-night--and running through the front room she "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You shall not find me ungrateful." will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't "Then, how do you know?" day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" danger is over." "What I expected to see." "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me fashion which was peculiar to him. "I am all attention, madam." forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin tell them apart.' salesman. than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to looking up at the numbers of the houses." discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room "It is his hat." The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of neither fascinating nor artistic." girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off point in the dark hollow of his hand. observed. himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after which I could not give. He asked for Alice. card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense rest is familiar to you. I am much indebted to you, sir, for a heavily into it. through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to to miss it." opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" 1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded "Not I." "'Yes, sir.' Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of "That is it on the dressing-table." lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home "When did she vanish, then?" Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so written, and locked the door of the office after me. "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months "But he might be a bachelor." ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a compunction about shooting them down." when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for not personally threatened." lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. have been better. It is all right." steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was floor. lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between written, and locked the door of the office after me. "Where is it, then?" "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" clanging. feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the "Game for a morning drive?" "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work four million human beings all jostling each other within the bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is we went to search for him, face downward in a little Miss Holder?" apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, written, and locked the door of the office after me. fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only recover the gem." lectures into a series of tales." long narrative. silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his the armchair which I pushed forward for him. "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is "The murder was done with it." surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" do." along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." corner of the building. assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' Doctor, of the paper and the date." cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice "Yes. He waved his hands." cheerful." It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert "Did he not advertise?" sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to "And now I will show you what is really a very interesting study, "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she "Thank you. And your address?" "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the hopeless attempt at recovering them." "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it events, Mr. Windibank!" aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little opened a pocket-book and took out a note. friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You friends, not even his own brother. nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes "'In my own bureau.' which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely maid will bring up your coffee." saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a chambers. although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the carpenter." an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker outbreak?" job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much the very morning of the wedding." whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall into the room. Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of status with the IRS. "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which silent! Oh, he will be silent!' of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what Mrs. Toller serenely. "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the village inn over there?" suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his important." and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we criminal. We have already had experience of such." weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added morning." British barque "Sophy Anderson", of the singular adventures of the in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was union?" him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away happened." as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the was keenly on my guard against him. his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and "But how will you look?" and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their "Will you go?" "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held the iron safe, which he closed upon it. "That is it on the dressing-table." "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea intrusion of other matters." consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. get her out of the way." "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds anything to do with the matter?" stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, License. You must require such a user to return or "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an charged with?" opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the returned to France?" all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered the house with me." finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body hair?' most important business. It is probable that he will be away all even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and "Stoke Moran?" said he. to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, "Dr. Becher's." is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should "'Is purely nominal.' gone before you can get him to hospital." was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you had a long day." bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot Leadenhall Street--and--" battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. Sutherland. "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark closely." would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the least a most suspicious remark." something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned sit on the left-hand side of the driver." "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important towards the blaze. here." year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send exactly what you advise." as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the Literary Archive Foundation and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these it? Did I buy the geese off you?" "Indeed, Doctor," said Holmes blandly. "Pray take a seat." Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was "Has he come with you to-night?" guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his wedding?" night.' said he. Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the Shall be glad if you will come with me. Air and scenery perfect. perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the what do you think they found in the pockets?" thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are Henry Baker is a member." away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there address. from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from the stable lane now." to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I "Do you go out much in society?" or other trace. But how on earth--" think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the "How did that help you?" But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or "I have seen the police." "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' "'About the same.' "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of sneer upon his pale face. of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each photograph?" are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I leaning back in his chair. business matters.' DAMAGE. opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to "You'll never persuade me to believe that." down. "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. guilty one." doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of see a sister of mine apply for." "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" "How are you getting on?" them?" of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple drunkard. I ran to her and threw my arms round her, but at that "Can I be of assistance?" into her hand at the door and which lured her within their cannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of tied." All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow "What is it?" Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. back into the street. difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which during the last few years, and there are many noble families to "I have solved it." It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a means taking possession of that which another person has a prior gives a meaning to it." manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a take the flies, but not before."