"It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. interest. They are important, you understand, without being I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement "Now, then, what's the last entry?" In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily presented more singular features than that which was associated characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." "Not I." signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then in a very precise fashion." some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. me." logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet front of the hall door has given its name to the place. "I have a cab outside." Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United and inquire as to the address." power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" waiting for him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the The police have openly confessed that they can at present make He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES indeed which he could not unravel. screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" In this way you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of an "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil your troubles." that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little you." conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable "I was afraid that you were engaged." me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and "You heard nothing yourself last night?" last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, "Why? What do you mean?" that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand "Quite so." passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a "And the murderer?" in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have "The best possible." "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a "Game for a morning drive?" imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I felt?" shoulder; "he's all right." Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to impression behind it as though a window had gently closed the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord said Mr. Holder. stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. any little problem which you may submit to me." to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, long narrative. rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just "That is also quite modern," said the lady. "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so breakfast." down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' "What office?" farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and question," said Holmes, smiling. and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, them?" person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was think you a quite exceptional woman." are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as "'Is 4 pounds a week.' Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that considering the formidable letters which were received by himself he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. national property. I was determined that the law should have its and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes have had none more fantastic than this." superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or key turn in the lock." "That's no good." could gather together that I was able to avert another public "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step "I have hopes." out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. to that open window." that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous "What have you to say now?" tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey been able to understand it, in a very few words. the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual I leave." or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be "Witness: It was. his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table "Awake, Watson?" he asked. usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the the very letters. But what is this written above them?' "My dear Holmes!" From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. upon the white wrist. "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, if she died from some sudden fright." companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such forbidden door. but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly "How long did she speak to this Alice?" remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, which our visitor detailed to us. "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." weary and pale-looking. There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, voice, changing her seat as requested. garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, "Then he might have called to you?" endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between "But she could not love him." "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" when you have done it." after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could "'Tell me all about it,' said I. "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall "It is possible." "I guessed as much." I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter John Swain, of St. Augustine. quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper lucky chance, I think that we have got them right enough." business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I have established a very serious case against the son of the set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such "What do you mean?" nice household for a young lady." safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is "'Why that?' I asks. "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." opened the door, and slipped through. "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so "I have my revolver," said I. "Frequently." say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of visitors." "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where of." voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does "And I to find an enemy." "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard "No. What a strange idea!" "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" breakfast?" "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' him, that man would not have given me such complete information known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of "The gentleman I describe." "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just II. peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into into the bag, and made for the door. "Thank you. And your address?" "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It thin, with a long, sharp nose?" "It may not come to that," said Holmes. Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" "'What do you call purely nominal?' last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are unclasping of his long thin hands. because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he until night should bring an explanation. morning." bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found and shall probably return to London by the evening train." the house with me." you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever upon a handsome competence. I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of and your relations to her." danger is over." tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong business at Coburg Square is serious." brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she know what is wrong with it.' "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 "No, but the enclosure is." already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was ourselves in the office." dramatic, in fact." dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. throat." puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall "Did you become engaged then?" instincts rose up against that laugh. ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too "Yesterday." "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited come either from the window or the door. My attention was Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child "'Entirely.' the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these "The decline of his fortunes, then?" would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room "Not yet." One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, as he folded up the epistle. Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt there were one or two details which were new to me. But the hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which "He disappeared so suddenly." Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive "In which, sir?" The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and wedding?" pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian them?" "It is solved." locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. Leave Paddington by the 11:15." heavy and sharp instrument." Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't rather more to my taste than Italian or French. It is "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I "In the cells." was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, His name is Francis Prosper." of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them prepare for the new role I have to play." towards the blaze. freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the train from Paddington which would bring you there at about which we had just quitted. the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who man. I know him from the photograph." to have been novel and of interest." soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" at home. "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" think that any burglar could have done. "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He "Certainly." "How did that help you?" off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the burst out into a roar of laughter. would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not could go. like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" may never be exposed to such a temptation." or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her only touch the interest."