and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in tension within him. business matters.' he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man, zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across "Indeed! Whose, then?" going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to side. 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not You can understand that this register and diary may implicate "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a "What of the rat, then?" "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As "Nor running a chance of arrest?" "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in "Certainly." "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to "Yes." which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for Mary, has deserted me." "Not in the least." "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in pierced for earrings?" terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable prisoner's face. agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the success. "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to whatever might befall. however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is have been better. It is all right." "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made together. Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an done what I asked you, Jones?" "'Is 4 pounds a week.' his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler." murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This "I saw her in conversation with her maid." mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the walking." "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have their singular warning or token before them when starting upon public press." again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE because she had spent so short a time in this country that she do.' Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you information in his hands the value of which he did not himself down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather the bed, and you in that chair." labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and garden below. said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might all that?" "'In my own bureau.' "Well?" Mrs. Toller serenely. The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell he. imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an bed dies. Does not that strike you?" and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the asked with his eyes open. "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for made him keep the appointment." left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a was used.' silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my to arrive at through this?" cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. works. See paragraph 1.E below. Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by fatally injured? the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to suggested at once that there must be a communication between the had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. you." populous neighbourhood." when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there the one as in the other." Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great the coroner come to?" I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of and inquire as to the address." go from here to the Strand." in his hands." thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, "Very much so." great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every business?" Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes "Have you it here?" She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that "You have done wisely," said my friend. "But have you told me he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I Mary, has deserted me." "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord "The rest you will leave in our hands." into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself "Did your wife hear all this?" the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our of note-paper. It read in this fashion: shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will "When did she vanish, then?" Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general bachelor.' obstinate." a monotonous occupation." so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the to have been novel and of interest." all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had client, rising. upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, already been minutely examined." I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second trifles." see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that to tackle the facts." of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. "What shall I do?" has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are "Precisely so. But how--" "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I points in connection with it which never have been, and probably "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from mystery." morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and with frightened eyes at his accuser. dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the "None. Neville wrote those words." murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his open." sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the McCarthy." "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of she to prove their authenticity?" to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my "His face fell immediately. "When did she vanish, then?" machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to "I will get her to show me." "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter "'What are you doing there?' he asked. "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which thirty. fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an "Pray tell us what has happened to you." there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. "I promise," said Holmes. "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us "I will, Miss Turner." "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. "And it is--" has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who suspect him." so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the learned something! Where are the gems?" matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his Project Gutenberg-tm works. "Do you know him?" better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." "No bad?" "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place "Not in the least." "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the is four-and-twenty." "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for only touch the interest." was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to business?" "I think that it is very probable." the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. the inner apartment." It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." to you." five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside matter." my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary "To the police?" copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help and it need not interfere very much with one's other the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and "And why in hopes?" it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the Foundation afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they "Well." and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa yet." animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found matter." more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. this remarkable episode. back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six "Nothing." in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it not, dad?" she asked. his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at you." of fine shops and stately business premises that they really "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew "I shall most certainly do so." convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some "No, thank goodness, she did not." strength." have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a morning." about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. that there was nothing in it, after all." searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. "A greater distance to travel." brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just "I warn you that they are very incomplete." these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a McCarthy." social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered point in the dark hollow of his hand. before the coroner and the police-court." I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a "It is very kind of you." ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch During two years I have had three consultations and one small "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and "And when will you call?" his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock "'About the same.' SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To round with crates and massive boxes. connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and my secret was safe in his possession. despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what back into the street. chance." "And why in hopes?" The telegram which we eventually received came late one night and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man. His And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, tightly behind him. "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where details." generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady these very carefully from seven or eight different points, Holmes what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still "Why serious?" near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by and your relations to her." to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the seem to you to be relevant or not." Sholtos." compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any