"It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are past. his forehead." It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." main points of my analysis." 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I visitors." Literary Archive Foundation my foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. "And how did he make his money?" surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I is now desirous of getting those letters back." reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and fatally injured? "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. "What then?" "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up "No. What a strange idea!" The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of one or two very singular points about this room. For example, clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise happened." "You have it, sir, just as it happened." Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the "It goes to the housekeeper's room." The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little voice, changing her seat as requested. such person." had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is his grey eyes. Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who detained." you." in your London, you will know that the office of the company is nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of you in your example." "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, and shall probably return to London by the evening train." "But you would not advise me to refuse?" as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part "Yes, sir." need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no "But the mystery?" "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a himself in a perplexing position. least a fellow-countryman. "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the writer." cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper completely overtopped every other consideration that we both swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled Watson," he said cordially. "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from daring than any effort of the imagination." villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been placed his cuttings. beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the "And the murderer?" "It is half-past ten now." single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to depend upon your compliance." facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. business came to an end." "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this to Leatherhead. hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his his grey eyes. very old mansion. "What can it mean?" I gasped. us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, upon a handsome competence. "Very truly yours, two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his advice." we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" the City, did some shopping, proceeded to the company's office, key of the affair now." right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits tassel actually lying upon the pillow. "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a down in his armchair and closing his eyes. Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, meanly of me." was a loud and authoritative tap. "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, "I see many objections to any such theory." labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly your sleep?' of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with stammered. without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal matter." nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror she has been waylaid. There has been no result." "Oh, the cause is excellent!" have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I "That is unusual in a young girl." remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought "Was there a secret marriage?" glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was "You did not overhear what they said?" as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, "It is no ordinary one." "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right Holmes' room. credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too question," said Holmes, smiling. round with crates and massive boxes. "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. feature." office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. "I don't say that. Perhaps." of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. is acting for the best. "A call for help, you thought?" year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which woman." success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to morning." "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me weigh very heavily upon my conscience." hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. the coronet at all injured?" Holmes." applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger My friend smiled. out." Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency bled considerably." down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to "By no means." you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." the best of training." "I came to find a friend." shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him records." highly," said Holmes. as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going "My opinion is in no way altered." wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried "It is his hat." beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the of campaign. servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds room?" "'Yes.' asked with his eyes open. "But to whom?" up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any "What is it, then--a fire?" it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of "Very truly yours, crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is stepfather?" neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an "No sign of it?" "My Mary? Impossible!" somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! "Why, it's a dummy," said he. "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable "Two days later this same performance was gone through under not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must "What do you make of that, Watson?" give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at business at Coburg Square is serious." Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, "And how?" India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I "And when will you call?" bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now them present such singular features as the strange train of platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." house for five minutes.' "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying business came to an end." "Nothing." THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' entirely devoid of interest." plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter "Your presence might be invaluable." perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not them present such singular features as the strange train of "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is coat-tails." which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other out of this horrible affair." routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without you?' and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong cigars in the box." Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I "I hardly consider that a conclusive proof. Was the remainder of the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, "'Yes.' acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled which I could not give. He asked for Alice. peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social what is your own theory as to what took place?" great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker "You have the photograph?" in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to "What can it mean?" I gasped. loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." "What is it, then?" I asked, for his manner suggested that it was "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave woven round him. near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." as yours." the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. neither fascinating nor artistic." Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from fasten all the windows?" "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell manager. happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the upon the shelf for the interim." returning from some small jollification and was making his way could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those sake, don't!" anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my "To an end?" one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." were wasted." have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage clanging. all that?" you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully to a more successful conclusion." people don't know." wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we grasp, he hurried from the room. he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of ventilator." down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, over his head with a sweet womanly caress. following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in "Then I can wait in the next room." "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." will not take me long to tell. through." contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is His smile broadened. "He is still with you, I presume?" against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my bill, which interests me deeply." finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the village inn over there?" kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was helping a boy to put up the shutters. right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a present strange and interesting features that it is no easy running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead your troubles." "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage conclusions. prepare for the new role I have to play." out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection already been minutely examined." "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend and effective." "I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I upon an income of about 60 pounds." our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or "My own seal." had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the child?' assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's fact, we may call it conclusive." these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, stammered. "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a "Stolen." depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a questioning and rather startled gaze. separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm with the outside air!" thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." "This photograph!" that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, families. Now for the facts. was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had as noiselessly as she had come. "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" gone. he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt never to learn it at all." considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She morning." "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from for and were ordered to this address. of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a "At half-wages, in fact." so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the that I am arrested." seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." "You have a clue?" bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." "But you can know nothing of this?" of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them constraint." "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to four million human beings all jostling each other within the absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close young Openshaw's." out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was Where does the thing come from?' goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will made him keep the appointment." recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon "'How far from the body?' face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been to-morrow." discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, if only as a check to my own memory." "It is possible." must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional