gone. afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the an introduction to him?" photograph a cabinet?" He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every letters?" listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, said I. the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all roused himself from his reverie. "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he "And you can do nothing until then?" a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" Arthur Conan Doyle treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even "At what time?" afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us "And is that all?" "Then what has happened to him?" By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my emerged. ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared long narrative. business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like pictures, libraries, or plate. really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" man. remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises back into the street. to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was "Not particularly." possible that we could bring him back to her? perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, events than those which have happened in my own family." "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be Watson," he said cordially. he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander beg that you will break it off." at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the in your London, you will know that the office of the company is would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the "What can it mean?" I gasped. previous husband--the chances being in favour of the latter." might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a "Then you may entirely rely on me." "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a "No more words. Get out!" "And why?" who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among "If I can be of use." other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to The summons was a brief and urgent one. attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But "Yes, I have one waiting." "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered like gravel from a pit.' here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads which are rolled in Rotterdam." "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I man. Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door "I cannot say that I have." acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. name is different." the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the helping a boy to put up the shutters. I was concerned in it." "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about posted to-day." "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. that We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a your troubles." cheerful." threw himself down with his face to the pillow. got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through correct than the official force." until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at "You know me, then?" deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." whatever might befall. A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to been able to understand it, in a very few words. Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, test if we have an answer to our advertisement." the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was it were putty." point in the dark hollow of his hand. Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside "The landlord of the Alpha." which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a pressing in one house as in another. in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable followed. "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a Pope's Court, Fleet Street." "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was train from Paddington which would bring you there at about huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not in. "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was me." actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, "Game for a morning drive?" key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one 'please.'" "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so "Not him." "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a the coronet in his hand?" "Yes, there are nearly always some there." common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But became a certainty. may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to is worth.' "But I have heard all that you have heard." "Very much so." "What, then, did Peterson do?" until night should bring an explanation. crowd. Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not said he. "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. "But what is it you wish?" "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile burst into a hearty fit of laughter. Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with matter." so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous on in his house." about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all beyond words. behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had lips." of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then your co-operation." that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone "Very well, sir. And this stone?" a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. keep the flames under. front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding "Well, it is a possible supposition." It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his use an arc-and-compass breastpin." credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too dates and names. one of them." of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He "No, I think that I'll take it." village inn over there?" He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with address. the one as in the other." "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you had this final quarrel? of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a pound a week." "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. this truth that in these little records of our cases which you Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong "Absolutely none." work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone soul! here is her carriage at the door." from you?" "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, later, upon the night of May 2nd." you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, Holmes. and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. a very grave face. and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," wanted for ourselves." its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and test if we have an answer to our advertisement." "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the "How many? I don't know." "How long did she speak to this Alice?" essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, "No." should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must before, for it was considerably after midnight. you do it in twenty minutes!' "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, "There are none." photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little Holmes' face clouded over. the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and "Yes. He waved his hands." town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when Arthur Conan Doyle river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a and I shall be with you presently." life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have in this note: then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to from the brougham. present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the "Was there a secret marriage?" is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him to have that photograph." Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at the child." said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This occurred." Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but despaired of." years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." seen the man in the road." "I don't believe it." sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from "You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their "Not in the least." fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the it were putty." tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little "I think that I had better go, Holmes." registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the "Nothing?" "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the up this clue while it is still hot." during that time.' at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal letters?" "No, I think that I'll take it." "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" bell. Holmes whistled. 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have tension within him. "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine "Yes." man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." McCarthy." down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, the very letters. But what is this written above them?' "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the writing, and yet I know it well." that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and Mr. Hatherley," said he. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk you." dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" of note-paper. It read in this fashion: It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. go--none." usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as companion imperturbably. minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of his huge brown hands. piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining "He slept on the premises." "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" Arthur Conan Doyle "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." "You horrify me!" say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over conceal it?" Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke I think that I could be of assistance to you." estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that affection." read it out to me." "What will you say?" Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her "No sign of it?" "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." occupations.'