leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself "And why?" and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the married her." that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. and your relations to her." "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What "I cannot tell." a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured front of the hall door has given its name to the place. loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce "But I have heard all that you have heard." of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. I was concerned in it." happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite shoulder; "he's all right." nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's without a word or a look. looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for followed. note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on roused himself from his reverie. "Thank you. Pray proceed." star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of made him keep the appointment." own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and have an American origin." becomes even more simple." Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any suddenly upon us." of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage used to be." "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was to where he stood hid behind the curtain. discontent upon his features. fashion which was peculiar to him. roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, The summons was a brief and urgent one. "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. "Were they all fastened this morning?" my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master meant it for the best. "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a little adventures." "No, finished." and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we handed it to him. but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client "Was he the only applicant?" on re-entering her father's house?" on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is bird of prey. strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the manager. what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see the loss of it. "To an end?" cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters present." or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we Project Gutenberg-tm works. "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In some place of shelter and let the county police know what has "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that jewels which you have stolen?' at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which the child." unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this "And why?" them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. key turn in the lock." lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at "I guessed as much." gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a anything to do with the matter?" way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for "It must be recovered." France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. The police have openly confessed that they can at present make 1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." sound at heart." It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! my room." she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in not personally threatened." "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, "Murdered?" a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had paper in the air. springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my "Stoke Moran?" said he. showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious. forbidden door. mysterious business." "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next lamp in his hand. "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found had no one to advise her at such a crisis." them?" "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain formed some opinion?" once more to my work. "A confidential servant?" SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle had died away into the silence from which it rose. overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched "You think that he is dead?" "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring night.' said he. simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and "Precisely." "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. night.' said he. the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. "I do." I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into and laid it on the table. upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious. gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. Count Von Kramm." "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I "And what did you learn from him?" while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon the coronet in his hand?" arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the thin legs towards the fire. "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, "Proceed, then." sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one "In what way?" asked Holmes. "Just look it up, then." cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." "Come in!" said he. the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared might have a private word with us. wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day crowd. "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate "That is unusual in a young girl." hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was "'I am sure if I had known--' "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, followed. "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. case-book, which he consulted. held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was "Certainly." George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should I nodded to show that I had heard. faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly showing my impatience. "On your arm?" The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. quarrel broke out, which was increased by the two guardsmen, who "No, thank goodness, she did not." quick march!" "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious. We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these eavesdroppers?' which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told sufficient punishment." the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" these bleak autumnal evenings." and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very "Ample." Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot fish-monger and a tide-waiter." him to go away.' the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations "This concluded the examination of the witness." fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT simple cases which are so extremely difficult." anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man. His his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, lost nothing by them." excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned "Won't it ring?" does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls empty. still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we was not a bird to be seen there. the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr. could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One of a light. might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no "'Where could I find him?' depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by second." young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the wife's character?" besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a should be so warm over such a trifle." invisible to me," I remarked. would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I south, for the country is more deserted there." upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have Mrs. Toller serenely. "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" "And how did he make his money?" "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on "An accident, I presume?" Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, "'No, I know no one in these parts.' call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be some mystery and the punishment of some crime." "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should soul! here is her carriage at the door." other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" name is different." snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" "You heard nothing yourself last night?" to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I events than those which have happened in my own family." outside." to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I is acting for the best. of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too "It is a murder, then?" There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited who was a member of your goose club." was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, were new raised from a basin. would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me girl said." opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is over his head with a sweet womanly caress. telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in your own bird, so if you wish--" "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some read over the extraordinary announcement. garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself swore that no one else had been in the front room during the We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a forebodings. pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads to-night?' There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed "Quite so. She has her freedom." "Nothing." "Dark enough and sinister enough." "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the "Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He tension within him. "'It is locked up,' I answered. shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand horse could go." out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his Arthur Conan Doyle Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to get the tickets." "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently "Certainly." painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler papers." thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' any little problem which you may submit to me." brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet "Did your wife hear all this?" "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it "I have hopes." generous with you in money matters.' and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no there is a decided draught." those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven "He is dead," cried several voices. "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I humiliation." weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. I took the paper from him and read as follows: appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. "An enemy?" sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found goes." "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some was not a bird to be seen there. paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, for and were ordered to this address. knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he will take you up to see the machine.' dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than unkempt, staring out at me. "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he