sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt "Where is it, then?" fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my "You will not go there first?" "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two "What, then, did Peterson do?" any little problem which you may submit to me." remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. British barque "Sophy Anderson", of the singular adventures of the central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two back into the street. It may be so in this case, also." I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one ready to-morrow?' since then to throw any light upon what became of him." "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a Sutherland?" size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have "On the contrary, this is the right side." help us in this matter." in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. "What are they?" running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day "In which, sir?" so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. present strange and interesting features that it is no easy pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable "Bought." "'Not at all. I only doubt--' that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are most important business. It is probable that he will be away all "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears the side-table." friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted because she had spent so short a time in this country that she "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came "A client, then?" "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project "No, thank goodness, she did not." "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew such attractions and accomplishments?' "By all means." "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place present strange and interesting features that it is no easy to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. "By no means." very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from "He disappeared so suddenly." "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" "And your mother is alive?" you." "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." head. So long, then!" "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking enough to aid us in our search." concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared with her." "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My "Won't it ring?" you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian "Can I be of assistance?" prepare for the new role I have to play." He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in "Why, what do you mean?" were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction other means.' and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we lips." specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." "Well?" writing, and yet I know it well." I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from said he. eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so name is different." from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, "The landlord of the Alpha." lamp in his hand. With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. entirely devoid of interest." interest. They are important, you understand, without being drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter and put his glass in his pocket. "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting "One of the highest in England." "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found suddenly upon us." some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and fatally injured? with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this father's young wife. the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. security.' "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It "But of what society?" charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was father's young wife. "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he that I may have something better before very many minutes are "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked "And you thought he was pulled back?" the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it "The Cedars?" tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." "So it appears." him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied "I say it is." so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed flock.' no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, whereabouts. sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote with the outside air!" "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it it means?" "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the "In heaven's name, what for?" air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can "Yes, he did." decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. grasp, he hurried from the room. present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." "'Quite sure, dad.' All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear "No." distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. manager. therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. copied or distributed: red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most "Tired-looking or fresh?" "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was "'Never.' flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate voice, changing her seat as requested. "To an end?" 1.F. guilty parties." I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon "But you have hopes?" "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, "I should like to see him very much." "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my where she found matters as described by the last witness. "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage south, for the country is more deserted there." "Yes." the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the what is your own theory as to what took place?" 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one "It is a murder, then?" thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at had no one to advise her at such a crisis." "I should like to see him very much." Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social I leave." "Precisely so. But how--" state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless "Stoke Moran?" said he. slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed will be renamed. tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a morning." could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried "That also I could fathom." to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been business for myself and took professional chambers in Victoria seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to door?" "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had "Yes, it was twisted." "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the said he. chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon to change my dress. The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of know that the truth is known." could not account in any way for the presence of the missing "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer that he will be back before evening." "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the or in danger--" Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then of fine shops and stately business premises that they really is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made vague figure huddled up in the darkness. "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past tail." remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a maiden herself was most instructive." fight. She had hardly said the words when young Mr. McCarthy came receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of could gather together that I was able to avert another public making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in shoulder. may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some The King stared at him in amazement. her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us golden eyeglasses. the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we as this. Pray let me have the details." papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my of his shoulders. the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you union?" abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those their singular warning or token before them when starting upon "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I closing the door. scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a him, that man would not have given me such complete information life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very beyond words. leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came completely overtopped every other consideration that we both pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for villagers almost as much as their master. derbies." about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. was the fact that his father should, according to his account, McCarthy." tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a "A confidential servant?" transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and "Was the window open?" "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial hardly wander." "Proceed, then." sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short was used.' "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. "When did she vanish, then?" highly," said Holmes. "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" IS again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her of them has the shutters up.' they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted not fit the lock." what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the head. So long, then!" have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these bearing upon the case." careless servant girl?" without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face could go. wedding?" idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a look dissatisfied." and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the "I should like to see him very much." "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. noble correspondent could be. I think that I could be of assistance to you." moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. who was a member of your goose club." the very morning of the wedding." Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, fled together." "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared "About a month then." "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. I took the paper from him and read as follows: how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has leave you to your papers for a little."