of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. floor. interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be the night.' France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." "If so, much may have happened between." foot. your bag." "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an up this clue while it is still hot." Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to the salesman. company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, "Can I be of assistance?" emerged. to his chemical studies. simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." investigation." "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington "Witness: I must still refuse. "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight in one or two places in England?' "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. it." that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," fatally injured? fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully "He said that you could solve anything." in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! that I may have something better before very many minutes are "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was more solid." dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and amused." wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's "Imitated." me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. tell him that I know him to be innocent." went to the Alpha were town bred." simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as "'About the same.' "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as bare slabs of marble. inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent weary and pale-looking. Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time seven miles from Eyford Station.' "How can you tell that?" "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll "But how will you look?" appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events case before our client came into the room." crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he "'Yes, it was gone.' "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who "It is to him that this trophy belongs." woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a "More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly "It is possible." permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he out." "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and might have a private word with us. her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner "Yes, it was twisted." "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined 'please.'" thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded paper in the air. the coronet in his hands?" London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen, eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. weigh very heavily upon my conscience." bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in weigh very heavily upon my conscience." reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his "Did he not advertise?" doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." of Gold, in Upper Swandam Lane. But what was she to do? How could habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler." "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with murdered man." "Pray be precise as to details," said he. and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, whereabouts. was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. think that any burglar could have done. the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? it with his own hands." his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to "No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with "If so, much may have happened between." "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again arrested. You then--" tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You "And Irene Adler?" London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than writer." "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project business at Coburg Square is serious." business." "So I have heard." signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out "A call for help, you thought?" like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has thirty. suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my October 9, 1890. green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a was it brought him the coronet? that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open the room while you explain this matter?" "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in once more. sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes "'Where to?' relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and is worth.' are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." appeared upon the scene." young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him the side-table." in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I remarked. diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when in his power. before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" "We must sit without light. He would see it through the I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain "No, finished." bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, "I think that it is very probable." "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged of it with the greatest attention. "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly past. were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, "That is not always so easy." or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, "He said too much." the window, rose as we entered. "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" you do it in twenty minutes!' he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. anything to do with the matter?" a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking the best of training." them?" shaken than I had ever seen him. whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a "I will not look." clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that "My dear Holmes!" our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly "Did he not advertise?" reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in "'Most admirably.' something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me "You have done wisely," said my friend. "But have you told me "Entirely." even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a "Yes." following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project such person." he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, Sutherland. '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to "Stolen, then." father's young wife. or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing had no one to advise her at such a crisis." the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying "And now?" He raised his hand. the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near "That is easily got." me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my "How did you deduce the select?" fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, "No, finished." gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" comes from the middle window." discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham keep the flames under. "No. What a strange idea!" is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I I leave." perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some "'Is purely nominal.' my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the cigars in their mouths. foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save and files of the old papers, following the future career of every "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to murdered man." naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, narrative." its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into ago." adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, quite distinctive." "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, minor matters until to-morrow." "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, that the gas is not laid on in his house?" daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have stepfather?" was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen. "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" "Will you go?" impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, "Stolen, then." had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich "You did not overhear what they said?" resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but "You'll never persuade me to believe that." "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. eavesdroppers?' "I will, Miss Turner." "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great nice household for a young lady." leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he "Come in!" said Holmes. the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I yards of it?' vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light him nearly every evening." either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote Gutenberg-tm License. Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one time." use an arc-and-compass breastpin." mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I ran thus: "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, official police, but it is not pleasant to have a family than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was constraint." perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, unkempt, staring out at me. "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice interests were the same as his." "What have you to say now?" "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom "Nearly eleven." "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached could not account in any way for the presence of the missing them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land despair." closing the door. Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he "Yes." their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." with the outside air!" "It is possible." hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who "He said that you could solve anything." Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and roused himself from his reverie. "How did that help you?" who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush bill, which interests me deeply." To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as have I gained?" interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for opened a pocket-book and took out a note. glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might said I. derbies." among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about "What, then, did Peterson do?" pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. you came in." the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in "We must sit without light. He would see it through the strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very cigars in the box." room?" exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave "What then?"