gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He "What, then?" quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way fattened it expressly for you.' 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until or in danger--" branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in at home. with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no Watson," he said cordially. "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch not use it unless it is absolutely needed." "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend You want to know what became of those geese?" heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied. as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a shadow pass over his face as I spoke. graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea Street. rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that third from London." old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of himself in a perplexing position. "Tired-looking or fresh?" "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the the devil!" suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the The police have openly confessed that they can at present make "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in himself. hour?' "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were chance." "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he that you can jump it.' This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I "Pray be precise as to details," said he. nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond "Stoke Moran?" said he. "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend lids now and glanced across at his visitor. which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to "A thing like a cleaver," said he. years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of then?" Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange you." to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the "It is possible." to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. went to the Alpha were town bred." prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without "But she will refuse." absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" I nodded to show that I had heard. unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds any more." seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I him, that man would not have given me such complete information not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her "I am following you closely," I answered. my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, dates and names. "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before "Where, indeed?" you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with golden eyeglasses. "Bought." heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, following enigmatical notices: everything which you would wish to know." something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added always that they were such commands as a lady might with given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was absorbing." "No, but the enclosure is." that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home to a more successful conclusion." sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is the night.' during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in "Eh? What was that?" an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I use an arc-and-compass breastpin." stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We American. Then who could this American be, and why should he acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this "Dr. Becher's." violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her which we had just quitted. "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from impression behind it as though a window had gently closed her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the "What do you make of that, Watson?" have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be you give your casting vote to?" time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I "Of what day?" Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our in the hope of finding them." astonishment. the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend green of the new foliage. The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. to-morrow." the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, "That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter. ways including including checks, online payments and credit card correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and "Deserted you?" ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." Sutherland. A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he his forehead." that I can to serve you." compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out Henry Baker is a member." "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond purpose equally well?" very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took "No, thank goodness, she did not." "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient "Now, then, what's the last entry?" "You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that "I guessed as much." have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the "I will not look." performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must do.' turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said one which it was hard to resist. "Then I can wait in the next room." remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, enter into my head. his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might hereditary King of Bohemia." I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be again on its way. "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine call the police, let the police find what they can.' foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so tightly behind him. with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive instincts rose up against that laugh. and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over Pope's Court. ashen face. we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was shadow pass over his face as I spoke. "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was I. you came in." "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in yourselves in at night?" "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you once more on the important position which you have been fortunate "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long any more." together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you "Did you observe the colour?" when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, him." hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the delirious. my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and dead, shall be safe with us." in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts depend upon my doing so.' Lee, in the county of Kent." and shall probably return to London by the evening train." age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his From what you have told me I think that it is possible that jaw, it is surely very clear that that side is less illuminated the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over ceremony." bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the looking up at the numbers of the houses." right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly may have an influence upon European history." Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, man. of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. the roots. so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air "You heard nothing yourself last night?" Munro.' "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with "'You cannot say what it was?' late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent absolutely follow my advice in every respect." round and wave him away like that.' some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only is worth.' knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, of Mr. Rucastle's." woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared "Oh, the cause is excellent!" occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my to have been novel and of interest." cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! business?" extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may "I will try. What is it?" several quiet little villages up there." returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in it." "Do you receive much company?" he asked. but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it "Thank you. Pray proceed." assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while bedroom door." "Yes." the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip "Yes, at the mines." appeared upon the scene." a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and "But you have hopes?" all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of "At the wedding breakfast." is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind. shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. society." weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I Mary, has deserted me." happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. attention." the child." very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which in the dead of the night?' scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. "'I am sure that I do not know.' The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the down. "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as fuss that is made over them." promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp residence of the great financier. Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he "I am following you closely," I answered. a good hundred miles off by now." said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I "Yes, I have one waiting." any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of because she had spent so short a time in this country that she does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on could not account in any way for the presence of the missing "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing shadow pass over his face as I spoke. "And how have you succeeded?" better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, which I could not give. He asked for Alice. passage and a tap at the door. villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." delighted to hear it," he said. knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he shoulder. directly by questioning you." and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, "It is possible." have an American origin." sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most he died? from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just legal crime." Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." Sutherland. the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was fishes. It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the "You did not overhear what they said?" mystery may be cleared along those lines." than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many "What is it?" rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I instituted." estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man, photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been have accepted such a situation. "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he people don't know." push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my the little opening for the ventilator is." "But of what society?" direction." if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." child?' days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I horse could go." the Red-headed League." "Because he was handy and would come cheap." tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the Surrey." enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am the coroner come to?" collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he tassel actually lying upon the pillow. as he remarks, very much against the son." must be when I saw the door open.'