see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger refused to deal summarily with the offence, but referred it to garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. towards the blaze. Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, less than 26s. 4d. secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself emerged. "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private weapon." hereditary King of Bohemia." week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to geese which you supplied to the Alpha." He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any Eyford at 11:15.' part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass invisible to me," I remarked. of your young ladies.' our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar if only as a check to my own memory." better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They which was all perfectly true. and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both pound a week." the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. to us from amid the mad elements--blown in upon us like a sheet examine." possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his to a light-house. homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. writing, and yet I know it well." it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." searched, without anything being found which could incriminate "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder instincts rose up against that laugh. this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his I. much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." hereditary King of Bohemia." "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in Young McCarthy must be got off, however." preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the me where it went to?" his cane at the bell-pull. there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly ourselves in the office." is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House "'Tell me all about it,' said I. a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from "'Which dealer's?' the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all forecastle of an emigrant ship. her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he "I came to find a friend." when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite once more on the important position which you have been fortunate about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, province." kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" always that they were such commands as a lady might with "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled lost. Nothing but energy can save you. This is no time for "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the "I am about to be married." "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the "Will you go?" or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work assist you in forming an opinion." "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely fatally injured? 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his meant it for the best. There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were train from Paddington which would bring you there at about must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to that you can jump it.' "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, British peeress.'" she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at have accepted such a situation. in my life." "Was the window open?" believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the papers diligently of late, have you not?" "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man me. You must get home instantly and act." knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he companion quietly. chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, a few minutes he said that it would be all right. As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort wall." months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I train from Paddington which would bring you there at about I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a to a light-house. Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love "Did he not advertise?" is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged about. is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm "Never." common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood was suffering from some strong agitation, which it took all his "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little "But not more so than I to find you." back into the street. earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then some place of shelter and let the county police know what has play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such "My dear Holmes!" since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me "The doctor?" "About a month then." "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project know all about it," he snarled. to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing key turn in the lock." I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be 1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with soul! here is her carriage at the door." hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution be there in time for your coming." "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, "Yes, there are nearly always some there." "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your of this gang." however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin unkempt, staring out at me. lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. "What!" he roared. was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; anything to a woman, for she would have her way." the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with through." here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may and looked back. from the brougham. "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip way: with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project McCarthy's innocence. "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" "Yes." "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. was not a bird to be seen there. you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small hands. "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. and I shall be with you presently." this unhappy family?" him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about when you have done it." new acquaintance to Baker Street. glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see sufficient punishment." to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or "'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into more terrible than the truth. my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to into her hand at the door and which lured her within their knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which learned something! Where are the gems?" "Very. But will he see it?" "Where, indeed?" Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong I nodded again. Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, of this gang." inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to than was visible to me." its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of "One of the highest in England." therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" "I will, Miss Turner." "Entirely." on in his house." "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, that you saw all that I did." upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. speckled band?" "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. "What is it, then?" I asked, for his manner suggested that it was eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the "I will try. What is it?" pound a week." "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I points in connection with it which never have been, and probably before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour "You forget that I know nothing about it." "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to husband's writing, madam." "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a words came to my lips. is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I in darkness. of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and Does that suggest anything?" for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the points to suicide?" present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your "Do you know him?" tell me that you intended to go into harness." and a shock of very red hair. he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon from the brougham. shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our "About a month then." you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had whether it answered to the description of any of their cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of a suggestive one." "Pray be precise as to details," said he. came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. call the police, let the police find what they can.' "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so bears upon the case?" "And how did you find out?" other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The walking." I have it here in my museum." The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a "What, then?" practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing redistribution. passage and a tap at the door. the so-precious time, but come!' unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. there!' companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, desk. band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he mysterious end." upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding his cane at the bell-pull. key of the affair now." set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, "And who is her maid?" "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, strength." small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. them?" trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the there was no need for father to know." had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were room had already been engaged for us. "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her swore that no one else had been in the front room during the 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid "And it is--" 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate depend upon your compliance." company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an orange pips. visitors." established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused spare." In this way you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of an "And who is her maid?" Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector carpenter." "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right