"But how?" man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. you want, then?' "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the nonsense.' 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who most interesting one." "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the London for the present?" I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you galvanised. "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat newspaper selections." useful material for showing traces. The double line a little southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of mysterious end." Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her "Of Friday, June 19th." conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many "Yes." first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they to us from amid the mad elements--blown in upon us like a sheet "It was an hour's good drive." "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since ourselves in the office." his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return "Her father is very rich?" assist you in forming an opinion." "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural "What is it, then--a fire?" thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. "'Is 4 pounds a week.' of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in hair?' tear off another piece?' seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said "That is it on the dressing-table." before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. he died? misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune ordinary clothes on?" "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I "'Tell me all about it,' said I. Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to wall." ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, voice, changing her seat as requested. some mystery and the punishment of some crime." slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which drove away. the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just I held the little printed slip to the light. fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the "Tired-looking or fresh?" his fortune, and I went back to pa. "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most bears upon the case?" "You did not overhear what they said?" chamber." behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, key turn in the lock." a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. me." "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his meanly of me." written, and locked the door of the office after me. "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to touch that coronet?' points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his maiden herself was most instructive." man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and maiden herself was most instructive." the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this "Yesterday." you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, cigars in their mouths. vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. you want, then?' there were so many in the whole country as were brought together have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." carried out of court." "I do." but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real noise which awoke you from your sleep?" multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of dress. She knows that the King is capable of having her waylaid "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate "'A dozen yards or so.' need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very that I can to serve you." exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second "I was sure that I might rely on you." day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and drove away. ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' indiscretion." I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. "Only as much as we can deduce." interested in these little problems, and since you are good fashion which was peculiar to him. "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to "You are certainly joking, Holmes." is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. cost them two and thirty pounds." whole matter to your consideration." down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, asked with his eyes open. For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my as the one I chose?' before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from asked with his eyes open. house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. Doctor, of the paper and the date." himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all forecastle of an emigrant ship. American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man. His Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his pictures, libraries, or plate. fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been 1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing which it had come upon my father." figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and rooms." overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. young Openshaw's." of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying a room. vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady "I think that it is very probable." estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest will find little credit to be gained out of this case." about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your there was no need for father to know." his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece as he folded up the epistle. "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 "I assure you that I am in your hands." vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. of the vacancies.' wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp where Mr. Fordham shows you.' "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very paper in the air. the best of training." obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a the running down." of the vacancies.' that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with believe that I should never have any practice at all. I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the definite end. collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon six. Come in!" should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as Pool. Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and carriage. It was a chestnut." the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his "And on what day did he meet his death?" "And the cigar-holder?" "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House up this clue while it is still hot." "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that October 9, 1890. shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had "What!" he roared. "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' deduce something from that?" of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. "A greater distance to travel." "Did your wife hear all this?" Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. with frightened eyes at his accuser. see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same "It is possible." ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or his face. again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause "It is his hat." Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." get the tickets." very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a ready to-morrow?' "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed to a light-house. "But of what society?" impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there "Dr. Becher's." part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand "That is also quite modern," said the lady. iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you she might be summoned. me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon "Can I be of assistance?" offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which "It was a confession," I ejaculated. not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you observed. "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added into the bag, and made for the door. located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a to-night." the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and "'In my own bureau.' jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those "And Irene Adler?" "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left "What then?" three fields round his house, and there he would take his "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which ordinary clothes on?" introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she "What, then, did Peterson do?" though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a Where does the thing come from?' the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of skylight. business for myself and took professional chambers in Victoria you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up mysterious business." my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. "And how?" about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade "Oh, fresh and glossy." Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were Eyford." that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from "I have my revolver," said I. my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my was my first impression. At the second glance, however, I ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, "'Certainly,' I answered. Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the more terrible than the truth. "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and papers on the sundial.'" But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your "It's nothing of the kind." too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the chance at all." that you wished to speak to me?' Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the to arrive at through this?" "She showed me, as I told you she would." "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had weigh very heavily upon my conscience." against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our again on its way. carried out of court." process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. humiliation." George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': bled considerably." this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. assist you in forming an opinion." four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of "What then?" closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich arms and began to sob in a high treble key. which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of