"Thank you. Pray proceed." time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He eavesdroppers?' comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge "Pray tell us what has happened to you." difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has "I am following you closely," I answered. if she died from some sudden fright." grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a "'I have already given you my word.' "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we head. So long, then!" "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. night.' said he. your only hope of safety." "She will not sell." thirty. has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing where we are going." She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and pressing in one house as in another. sit on the left-hand side of the driver." "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have "No." was shining brightly. broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried and the whole place is in a blaze." following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon "'And what salary do you ask?' get the tickets." passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your without success. At last the little money which I had saved began fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend I took the paper from him and read as follows: what do you think they found in the pockets?" your equipment. well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very humiliation." which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." point our research must commence, and we will begin it by now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the ordinary clothes on?" "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have 11:15.' Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my his forehead." "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked as this. Pray let me have the details." Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a "Get out!" said he. Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered morning." The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have have taken place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as "Here?" I think that I could be of assistance to you." down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend place of silver." black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we once more to my work. even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. of the efforts of the United States government and of the better "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather "Her father is very rich?" besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." "Which are?" "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. "Where did he live, then?" manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. American. Then who could this American be, and why should he scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and "What office?" appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the is entirely a question of barometric pressure." companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the distinguish the words: I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were really the only notable feature about the thing." disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body "No, my brougham is waiting." Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, had picked up in the wood. eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. was a loud and authoritative tap. of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. have one." "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." "In the cells." breakfast." "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a my friend's incisive reasoning. "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature was it brought him the coronet? central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then to a more successful conclusion." "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the strength in the others." business." clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in everything which you would wish to know." "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with with the outside air!" "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" together. madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder tension within him. governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so any." drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which "You saw the ventilator, too?" "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; "There is the writing." of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as to have been novel and of interest." so far?" was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be "Witness: I must still refuse. this unhappy family?" "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" "Entirely." calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With once more. "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. in a very precise fashion." these bleak autumnal evenings." "'What then?' I asked. police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold "Quite so. She has her freedom." and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped "I cannot say that I have." What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the "I am in hopes that she does." minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the be. month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you "Entirely." moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do "Yesterday." matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the heavy and sharp instrument." as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors derbies." "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent to a light-house. I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of the Red-headed League." window when the police appeared." their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had your own bird, so if you wish--" glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying "But you were on a friendly footing?" have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father when you have done it." "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his any more." "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is at home. waste of energy." "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive mystery." "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is knowledge of the world." "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. along the entire front of the house, with three long windows to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, awkward doing business with an alias." father's young wife. nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies "Precisely so. But how--" Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a the very morning of the wedding." prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and these bleak autumnal evenings." into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few crowd. it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell directors have had misgivings upon the subject." to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently "I think it very unlikely." "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" Eyford at 11:15.' respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it written. lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty gbnewby@pglaf.org "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always house for five minutes.' opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would "Not yet." cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would "No, I had a dozen." "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall Eyford." was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it "What office?" shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to "Ha! you find it so?" loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on "I answered that I had not. returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss "Nothing." Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was you do it in twenty minutes!' there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come lost. Nothing but energy can save you. This is no time for one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, John Swain, of St. Augustine. about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just "If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man out you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of garden below. "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let "Here?" into her hand at the door and which lured her within their "And who is her maid?" was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new "Perhaps I have." there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not this unhappy family?" round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, the station." My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which that he will be back before evening." "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle washing it down with a long draught of water. is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be window when the police appeared." "Yes, sir." the running down." self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if "The Coroner: What do you mean? out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' writers could invent nothing more crude." the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we particular state visit http://pglaf.org "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his thought that she would have been so carried away." but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew "And who is her maid?" then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That "Where, indeed?" The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, "I am armed." read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they in this note: But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you without a word or a look. thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how cup of tea. to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into of them has the shutters up.' colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him seen the man in the road." "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which morning." qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it "It missed him, then?" "This photograph!" crime." continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been "What will you say?" "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. have been better. It is all right." he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and you?" Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking for its centre. Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper little adventures." Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With had died away into the silence from which it rose. "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping "I am sure." upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. "And Irene Adler?" returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated It may be so in this case, also." step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang his huge brown hands. latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the