"What do you mean?" and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, case before our client came into the room." you want, then?' Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. relation between them, and what the object of his repeated looking up at the numbers of the houses." charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, "Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly, vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that "Yes." were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was hurried by. "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I wanted for ourselves." "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just "And that is--" bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of them, and came down just as you departed. already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the beg that you will break it off." I was concerned in it." "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the congenial hunt. learned something! Where are the gems?" laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his certainly do as you advise." Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my "The Cedars?" so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that "Your sister is dead, then?" public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not John Swain, of St. Augustine. notes," he said. pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the of Fenchurch Street." "I guessed as much." with some details as to your case." Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the ready to-morrow?' of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. look upon these things in a different way." 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would weigh very heavily upon my conscience." is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I all that?" country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the never came back." passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" once more on the important position which you have been fortunate "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one "It surprised me." however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. developed." that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco "Your sister is dead, then?" a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how see a sister of mine apply for." trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What wedding?" call it cruel." days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an man. I know him from the photograph." "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at nights." tightly behind him. My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a "And why in hopes?" estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what back into the street. Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp 1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could dramatic, in fact." with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little Sholtos." fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." about. George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so Henry Baker is a member." answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. "I cannot tell." was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge Mr. Hatherley," said he. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself the inner apartment." to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." John Swain, of St. Augustine. Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to "Pray tell us what has happened to you." Does that suggest anything?" "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held should be taken.' including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good eat it." deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. "Yes, from Horsham." tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third "They are typewritten," I remarked. receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a and looked back. has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, paper in the air. Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what some city in a dream. call for protection in the marriage market, for the present fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question "Well, but China?" the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other on in his house." from you?" the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." chill to my heart. would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his of the way of danger. name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately McCarthy." her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to up this clue while it is still hot." "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and and looked back. which I could not give. He asked for Alice. life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I "Pray be precise as to details," said he. "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own until night should bring an explanation. the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per purpose of examination. I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, so.' "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided whereabouts. "And how did he make his money?" had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and through." too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker look dissatisfied." his wife has ceased to love him." yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving to miss it." course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. "Breckinridge is his name." they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the not within a twentieth part of the market price." she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this unprecedented a position." papers diligently of late, have you not?" this unhappy family?" his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his suddenly upon us." Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out silent! Oh, he will be silent!' "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a compunction about shooting them down." last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the a very grave face. staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my "Nearly eleven." over with notes and figures. "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with "Game for a morning drive?" important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I heavy and sharp instrument." would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting you give your casting vote to?" step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant "Really! You surprise me." "Look there!" said he. "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, test if we have an answer to our advertisement." to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his His smile broadened. events than those which have happened in my own family." not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he second window is the one that I jumped from." There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a make me his representative both with the servants and with the vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing "I shall most certainly do so." sentimental considerations in the background which would induce have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then some city in a dream. are, I think, all that we need." probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that "None." "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. which it had come upon my father." I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which matter." companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after once more. indeed happy." "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." McCarthy." the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe absorbing." This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble easy-going way." drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than delirious. Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is cost them two and thirty pounds." glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing the Red-headed League." my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the drawing your inferences." upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere a very grave face. one else, I think." "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. detective. While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. "So I heard. You have him here?" out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking Good-afternoon, Miss Stoner. You see that we have been as good as Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking cup of tea. "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. "Will you go?" facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and down from London to inquire more deeply into it." invisible to me," I remarked. wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was "How did you trace it, then?" managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may "This photograph!" them?" events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the desk. so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of national property. I was determined that the law should have its that he was averse to a marriage with so charming a young lady as of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will were wasted." common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just most interesting one." "Is he quiet?" "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be disturbance in my wife." the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions the running down." woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible "What, then, did Peterson do?" bonnet, and went out." whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers "A greater distance to travel." "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this sofa. This way, please!" very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your I am not easy in my mind about them." interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and touch that coronet?' in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was meant it for the best. the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms in his hands." about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the never did wish us to go anywhere. He would get quite mad if I and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him and wait." they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, you do it in twenty minutes!' "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman than to us. system of imprisonment?" anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped was used.' have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' "But I am all in the dark." The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." "You heard nothing yourself last night?" We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. Foundation "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In of Gold, in Upper Swandam Lane. But what was she to do? How could and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had "Frequently." hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing "Did he not advertise?" destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," "I do." Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to conduct the inquiry."