The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as "And how in the world did you find them?" card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole union?" salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if "I came to find a friend." ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, "Yes?" after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about despair." dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the residence of the great financier. "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began could not have written that. It is the German who is so a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I "And why?" "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. beyond words. what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular "Nothing." "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have writers could invent nothing more crude." is," said he presently: accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in his huge brown hands. and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the The note was undated, and without either signature or address. "What have you to say now?" ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. "My stepfather's business papers." handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to "The Cedars?" least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. tassel actually lying upon the pillow. the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at over here." there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." it." bare slabs of marble. connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel "I cannot tell." "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an Leadenhall Street--and--" sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a "You saw the ventilator, too?" right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural "My own seal." "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but more terrible than the truth. Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent rooms." exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we "'And the work?' some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and "And how have you succeeded?" you." quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the imbecility!" he cried. was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the there." McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that giving me time to thank him. following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous "'What then?' I asked. carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this examination traces of blood were to be seen upon the windowsill, departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable "Indeed! Whose, then?" "And how have you succeeded?" with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs. sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the "And you don't know his address?" along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note then?" upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I putting in the horse. came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He "It came here." of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you crowd. to us from amid the mad elements--blown in upon us like a sheet "Yes, all." and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the my foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what been deceived." sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the dress. She knows that the King is capable of having her waylaid THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. fluttered off among the others. and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from jaw, it is surely very clear that that side is less illuminated "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." as this. Pray let me have the details." It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the amused." "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr. the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. maid will bring up your coffee." familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more all?" "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I were new raised from a basin. with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. sake, don't!" charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I "Your French gold?" suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. bird I ate is country bred." I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small said he. misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." "No legal papers or certificates?" savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon made him keep the appointment." his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the Leadenhall Street--and--" "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that and the whole place is in a blaze." ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer sufficient punishment." observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my "Well, some hundreds of times." It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat is acting for the best. word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which "She will not sell." himself to tell his story. weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a present." "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If mystery may be cleared along those lines." charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." least a most suspicious remark." Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more "I am all attention, madam." "That was it, sir." produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention "'Yes, I promise.' Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had could gather together that I was able to avert another public you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! will he say when he returns?" out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding most important business. It is probable that he will be away all in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, "You know me, then?" or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which never to learn it at all." but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which breakfast?" "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of "Ah!" "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then simple cases which are so extremely difficult." "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a is so. I know all about McCarthy." no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend should be so warm over such a trifle." landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of experiences." "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman nice household for a young lady." The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after 11:15.' "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a spark where all is dark to me." we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, cannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest just ask you whether you had heard it.' upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are "And now?" I asked. abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. here and I will read it to you: "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a look upon these things in a different way." isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came indeed which he could not unravel. it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical "You have a clue?" extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works "On the contrary, this is the right side." my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how upon an income of about 60 pounds." "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with "You are hungry," I remarked. Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away geese which you supplied to the Alpha." International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make "Do you receive much company?" he asked. floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an "Absolutely none." of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with to his chemical studies. away into the river." sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. "On your arm?" "How did that help you?" in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for people don't know." daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away ceremony." soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE business?" little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken "But it has twice been burgled." there!' inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard your troubles." if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." with her." by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you "What I expected to see." the running down." James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry stammered. "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. "I would pay ten." even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would "'Yes.' "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of "He slept on the premises." after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond the roots. "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of very peculiar words of the dying woman?" lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. was shining brightly. As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. you found me to-night--and running through the front room she "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own call it cruel." roused himself from his reverie. the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." records." purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it "The best possible." that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. been deceived." believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens Dr. Gregory B. Newby uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced test if we have an answer to our advertisement." mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of again on its way. man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite "And why?" "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it "And how did you find out?" time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son "And for present expenses?" and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you "I think that I had better go, Holmes." came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each "I was mad--insane." will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which enter Dr. Roylott's room." "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very be there in time for your coming." round and wave him away like that.' security.' enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, too. Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his danger is over." without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise certainly do as you advise." days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It lost nothing by them." tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite shag which I had seen upon the previous night. reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?" acted in my house last night?" bears upon the case?" "Yes, sir!" said the station-master.