matter over." and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two to have that photograph." step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over noise which awoke you from your sleep?" "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, perplexity from it to my illustrious client. flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. made his money." Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project his eyes and forehead. we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many open." the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong their singular warning or token before them when starting upon among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the may never be exposed to such a temptation." editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. where she found matters as described by the last witness. fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman "It is no ordinary one." weigh very heavily upon my conscience." his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. crowd. the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a second." there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the "In heaven's name, what for?" explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly most interesting one." think, you have already met." look upon these things in a different way." that you saw all that I did." and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of "I have hopes." away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped some place of shelter and let the county police know what has nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the intimate personal affairs in this public manner." "My photograph." right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, that before taking the final step I should like to submit the appointment with me for six o'clock?" "What can you not understand?" "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face way in everything. this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." companion. "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the "Why did you beat the pavement?" and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as "One?" all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It go back?" "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' you give your casting vote to?" "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put throat." shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in pierced for earrings?" story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and my little problems." home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first which are rolled in Rotterdam." James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up depend upon my doing so.' up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an constraint." can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal yards of it?' professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" "Come in!" said he. year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this "I was afraid that you were engaged." Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic "Of what day?" entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, respectable self." Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man who is not only proficient in his profession but is also discreet them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of intimate personal affairs in this public manner." Holmes' thin, eager face. penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an of the one which your family is now devouring." if only as a check to my own memory." "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" he died? which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying green of the new foliage. years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, "You know me, then?" "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that "Precisely." correct than the official force." "If I can be of use." "What of the rat, then?" description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" coat-tails." "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that "You forget that I know nothing about it." entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When "At half-wages, in fact." Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he kindly on the shoulder. standing smiling on the door-step. however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and purpose of examination. rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so eavesdroppers?' "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you of." "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival to go into your room and bar your shutters?" took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, "Seven!" I answered. corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; "I am sure." may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." said I. connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, details should find their way into the papers. Inspector gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly "Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and gigantic client. "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he "Yes, at the mines." habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in "A client, then?" turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening charged with?" at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this "'Quite sure, dad.' down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but "That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter. young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt discontent upon his features. "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the felt the room to be a little close.' twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in You can understand that this register and diary may implicate need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no "Why serious?" She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found strength of mind to control. "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his who was a member of your goose club." test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came III. On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it place no limit on the sum I may draw." member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone "You don't mind breaking the law?" with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. From what you have told me I think that it is possible that this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich "How are you getting on?" never to learn it at all." "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the "Then I do not see the point." I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep "'I shall certainly be there.' which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" these very carefully from seven or eight different points, Holmes the bed, and you in that chair." front of the hall door has given its name to the place. justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. public press." "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a "How often?" shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to writer." deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' it." the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed to where he stood hid behind the curtain. certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved along the entire front of the house, with three long windows the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such "You heard nothing yourself last night?" upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came "The landlord of the Alpha." bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as and the whole place is in a blaze." "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in congratulate you again." said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away promised to bring home. "Yes, that is the Crown." here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as "I have hopes." "You have it, sir, just as it happened." "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and and wait." "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost "'And what are they worth?' I asked. Serpentine Avenue. the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I my former friend and companion. was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no "'Oh, no.' "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. "You have it, sir, just as it happened." towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was asked with his eyes open. possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method "You have but to name it." analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had could gather together that I was able to avert another public It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no I shall communicate with you." "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the "Entirely." "A thing like a cleaver," said he. His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds most interesting one." o'clock is it?" "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being already been minutely examined." "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was correct than the official force." Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR "No, I am descending." "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow where she found matters as described by the last witness. Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should "It's nothing of the kind." branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my which I could not give. He asked for Alice. "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn you?' "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face "Yes, he did." a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" arrested. You then--" pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove nights." "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, "'Ample.' I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so been anything against him. He had for years been known as a "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through to us from amid the mad elements--blown in upon us like a sheet you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the "The gentleman I describe." words came to my lips. For additional contact information: every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for Pool. "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss instincts rose up against that laugh. knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such away to you." Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of him. my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." crowd. and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable unkempt, staring out at me. "How can you tell that?" the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had man. "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view hair?' effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in public press." I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this