look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in ourselves in the office." believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought have an American origin." "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to business." "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when "No." said he. would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the into the room. goes." practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon suddenly upon us." Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the "Ah!" remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. "How did that help you?" meant." little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he "How did that help you?" the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the certainly do as you advise." "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. "Which are?" instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind may have an influence upon European history." astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. "About a month then." case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the as yours." decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached Miss Holder?" "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular "Never." customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your approach us with offers to donate. spark where all is dark to me." to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where one or two very singular points about this room. For example, "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat have not had my rubber." a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if British peeress.'" chill to my heart. "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from "Where, indeed?" known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By "Yes, it would be as well." feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could Literary Archive Foundation the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were said he. said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an "I was mad--insane." Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San and your relations to her." submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a stood on the top of it. cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had detained." child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, "Certainly." "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, "One?" was lame." Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which matter." would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the was it brought him the coronet? "And how did he make his money?" it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing "At what time?" this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than "'Where could I find him?' glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between other, as fresh and trim as possible. legal crime." "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped you." Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." meant." "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then kind enough to tell me what I should do." which I could not give. He asked for Alice. five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and up a scent, and then turned upon my companion. slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, question. "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the prisoner's face. perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the case before our client came into the room." "He disappeared so suddenly." "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco least a most suspicious remark." I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking "There is the writing." "'A dozen yards or so.' coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and prison!" "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward burst into a hearty fit of laughter. a very grave face. done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy empty. aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest her also." and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. off." warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." "He said that you could solve anything." might have a private word with us. village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the "It was a confession," I ejaculated. will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when License. You must require such a user to return or abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently "I was afraid that you were engaged." Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The "Yes." "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in gone. on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her "It is solved." "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. yourselves in at night?" betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the distance from the station, and there we found the young lady society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear "What!" he roared. business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without wedding?" not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while "And you thought he was pulled back?" butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts to miss it." "It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot o'clock is it?" magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from people don't know." the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a gentleman's clothes. quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving again on its way. protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the she has been waylaid. There has been no result." and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of served to weaken the effect. whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length ways of our fellow-men." heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it but preventing her from injuring another. Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with roused himself from his reverie. "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project shoulder. them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, what I may call a really hard day's work." "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. arms and began to sob in a high treble key. some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not "Perfectly so." breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. used to be." at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and "I don't believe it." you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. certainly do as you advise." Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the delirious. Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in "No." were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" forbidden door. "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest "Not I." "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray over part of the map. "What do you read?" face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been congratulate you again." 'I should be able to look after that for you.' some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre "But your client--" the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a "'Quite sure, dad.' blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. cheerful." "To the police?" look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put asked. From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for triumphant cloud from his cigarette. been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in "Pray do so." themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until it." asked with his eyes open. "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He "It was an hour's good drive." business at Coburg Square is serious." that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." bled considerably." me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my sound at heart." four million human beings all jostling each other within the police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose chance at all." "Entirely." of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have cup of tea. even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" "Yes, they were peculiar boots." with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was see me here to avoid scandal." attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. "How are you getting on?" "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, everything which you would wish to know." spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss III. the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he weighed down with some great anxiety. giving me time to thank him. to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in "I should wish to." to tackle the facts." of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at Young McCarthy must be got off, however." she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on "'What would be the hours?' I asked. analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and posted to-day." It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. it with his own hands." hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." the Red-headed League." "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see "I will try. What is it?" already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired "I should wish to." Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared away into the river." "You don't mind breaking the law?" generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no business?" into her hand at the door and which lured her within their "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal "You don't mind breaking the law?" woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to Holmes' room. moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. "At what time?" on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen direction." Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is "No more words. Get out!" rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? of the one which your family is now devouring." better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.