you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of where Mr. Fordham shows you.' It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." Mary, has deserted me." prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently "How do you know, then?" ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty "Could he throw no light?" "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and pity, because in other respects you would really have done very you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty yourselves in at night?" young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his "'Where to?' moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway "Never." "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a "Ah, but I was recommended to you." he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock down. hurried away. "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my arrangements." rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." name is different." five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our "I say it is." still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, "Then I can wait in the next room." something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the footfalls from the street. drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, "No, but the enclosure is." moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. "You are all wrong." even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special once more. "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this pierced for earrings?" years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg down from London to inquire more deeply into it." "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard fasten all the windows?" evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a The telegram which we eventually received came late one night but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap The telegram which we eventually received came late one night "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the foot. would then never go into court at all." families. Now for the facts. my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. of Fenchurch Street." has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. your bag." Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the him." conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." entirely devoid of interest." "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen. continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been "It is a murder, then?" retorted upon me, and I on you." Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To other lovers by making love himself." "Yes?" registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can throat." drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of there!' "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." which was all perfectly true. from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general girl said." "What!" he roared. there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, daring than any effort of the imagination." low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly me upon any point which I do not make clear." adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. weigh very heavily upon my conscience." you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a "Well?" Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled was lame." than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the "One of his hands." think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it sit on the left-hand side of the driver." another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was orange pips. "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the criminal. We have already had experience of such." About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in passage and a tap at the door. He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two means taking possession of that which another person has a prior "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main "You horrify me!" steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and strong reason behind." arms and began to sob in a high treble key. hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he the armchair which I pushed forward for him. him." His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a door?" "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. "Just look it up, then." the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was "There are none." ready to-morrow?' just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly questioning and rather startled gaze. and that he would see to anything that turned up. confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was good for you to do.' grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign "None." "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. sound at heart." you do it in twenty minutes!' "She will not sell." his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle "'I am sure if I had known--' jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is "He is dead," cried several voices. before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum narrative." written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind. understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a drunkard. I ran to her and threw my arms round her, but at that several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was writers could invent nothing more crude." mystery." "How did you trace it, then?" main points of my analysis." SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and "I warn you that they are very incomplete." souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind the Assizes." "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a In this way you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of an my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through "'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both too. analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's matters immensely." not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end been with you?" went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit into the bag, and made for the door. legal crime." "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he only touch the interest." until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered "I promise," said Holmes. When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If Pope's Court. had no one to advise her at such a crisis." Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her "No more words. Get out!" "Ah, but I was recommended to you." "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, you, my dear young lady?' course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me gbnewby@pglaf.org course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa it with his own hands." case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would "No, I had a dozen." heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 "You forget that I know nothing about it." reach." "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The during that time.' Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, outside. Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as James Windibank. Voilà tout!" make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' papers." have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it "Why did you beat the pavement?" agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see "Not in the least." his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her "Never." remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." James Windibank. Voilà tout!" street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. said I. we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your possible that we could bring him back to her? gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, the best of training." Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this silent! Oh, he will be silent!' which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but "It is very kind of you." "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project how narrow had been my escape. before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' "I promise," said Holmes. 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained "Yes, only one." low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks Holmes' thin, eager face. in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would "I will do it." The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles Eyford." eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." during that time.' "And why?" "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we "What then?" "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last danger is over." room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the article?" "It was an hour's good drive." passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers "Never to return." sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at outside." the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally the address that was given us in the advertisement. could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would "No." wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an it with his own hands." "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical the Red-headed League." be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in "It goes to the housekeeper's room." might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open "He might." Lestrade of Scotland Yard." against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come "Not him." such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, morning." of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both "What do you mean?" the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to thin legs towards the fire. for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then rose-bushes. "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns my little problems." written. "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have "It is true that I have been generally successful." through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a matters immensely." drunkard. I ran to her and threw my arms round her, but at that "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. http://www.gutenberg.net the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he lumber-room." kind enough to tell me what I should do." slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a as yours." wedding?" If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me "In the cells." living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all chair. even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so hour?' house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed you do it in twenty minutes!' all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, showing my impatience. "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice house for five minutes.' those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have stalked out of the room. over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I "He might." "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed "What office?" of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis License. You must require such a user to return or son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. such attractions and accomplishments?' hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria,"