their singular warning or token before them when starting upon strength." "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before "'And what salary do you ask?' wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small at home. drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the "Is he quiet?" Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." "I beg pardon." "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of "'Entirely.' out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a me have 200 pounds?' hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into "Upon what point?" "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that "You have a clue?" "But it has twice been burgled." extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I "When did it break out?" five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the your room." then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her "It is half-past ten now." Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at overpowering excitement and concern. hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all "Yesterday." Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the evidence," I remarked. her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep crime." as he remarks, very much against the son." particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those appeared upon the scene." were wasted." about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." dear old homesteads?" absolutely follow my advice in every respect." very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my "She showed me, as I told you she would." staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by more terrible than the truth. yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, you." "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the the one as in the other." remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many "Nothing?" "Oh, yes, easily." registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can pierced for earrings?" was once confined in the cab my mission was practically misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless back alive. obstinate." to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the "Why did you pick him?" "What, then?" struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of me. My gross takings amount to 27 pounds 10s. Every day, from handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." "'Where to?' Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over woven round him. was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and "This photograph!" touch that coronet?' very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the rather more to my taste than Italian or French. It is the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible "'Yes, I promise.' the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a "You are hungry," I remarked. learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of me. observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he enough to aid us in our search." "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous directors have had misgivings upon the subject." been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, his grey eyes. refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true "I have come for advice." right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered "Married! When?" course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, and the whole place is in a blaze." "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to back alive. the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the a little more before I quite committed myself. and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. "You have carte blanche." "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." cannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest quarrel broke out, which was increased by the two guardsmen, who "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be pierced for earrings?" "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a very peculiar words of the dying woman?" of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, that "By no means." the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to distinguish the words: "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying "And I to find an enemy." "Did you become engaged then?" of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came in this way: "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I "She walked into the breakfast-room." been deceived." metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, way in everything. even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not father's young wife. side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that any more." waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous "I think that I had better go, Holmes." and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see I am not easy in my mind about them." feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to never came back." is a common subject for conversation. the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, "Pray continue your narrative." right! Sit down and let us talk it over." "Precisely." explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his Arthur Conan Doyle fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, go from here to the Strand." however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his and I shall be with you presently." "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the "But it has twice been burgled." "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. "What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated. "I think that I had better go, Holmes." that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from locked. "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, McCarthy's innocence. there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa said Mr. Holder. of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" held up the lantern and gazed about him. Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we "I would pay ten." death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; his knees, staring into the fire. particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up husband's writing, madam." "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe "But how could you guess what the motive was?" sooner or later she must fall a victim. "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism waiting for him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in troubles have been weighing upon his mind. revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man, "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant "And on what day did he meet his death?" year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. "And how have you succeeded?" these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, "But you have hopes?" "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news come either from the window or the door. My attention was "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' III. was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of "No, distinctly professional." photograph a cabinet?" "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and up a scent, and then turned upon my companion. been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. your bag." "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the John Swain, of St. Augustine. nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of absorbing." regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each before, for it was considerably after midnight. "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in friend's singular character. my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in compunction about shooting them down." which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. "It is possible." States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that "Who by?" attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a "'Ample.' would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of "No bad?" sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else so.' very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up "But I am all in the dark." "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud "What! Had he lost his wife?" "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds Again Holmes raved in the air. figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and already referred to. left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my "I am sure." lucky chance, I think that we have got them right enough." "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which obstinate." "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding front of me. silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his had this final quarrel? bill, which interests me deeply." as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I she to prove their authenticity?" crackling voice. ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful in darkness. result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be British peeress.'" "I hardly consider that a conclusive proof. Was the remainder of yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight you understand?" and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming bearing upon the case." case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but cigars in the box." correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at it." "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, something of him before." him to go away.' than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was "Pray be precise as to details," said he. instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he begun to whiten, even as mine has." lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. and wait." and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." footfalls from the street. a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. "Nothing?" had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a tightly behind him. "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to waste of energy." "What have you done?" asked Holmes. produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn "It certainly sounds feasible."