those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its to-night." and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a "'And what are they worth?' I asked. comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that must compliment you." providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance "You have done wisely," said my friend. "But have you told me Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." envelope. It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more individual and becomes the badge of a society." photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or "The Coroner: What do you mean? explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of and capable of preserving a secret.' "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small felt the room to be a little close.' let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the "If I can be of use." gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. strength." all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot DISSOLVED. of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple swear it on a Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen province." "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon interest. They are important, you understand, without being of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at annoyance, but no jest. "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, "Yes." minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" cup of tea. me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the seem to you to be relevant or not." the coronet at all injured?" "Will you go?" One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle Serpentine Avenue. away to you." after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. better in every way that they should make their position a little "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' details." the one as in the other." with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own strong and stiff." me upon any point which I do not make clear." pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in and shall probably return to London by the evening train." very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own him." case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most "What do you make of that, Watson?" something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which "Will you go?" him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between letters?" being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler of campaign. very morning of my second wedding." with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for on re-entering her father's house?" business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said "How about poison?" at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never settle down they should do so as near each other as possible. "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, written. been shamefully used." You want to know what became of those geese?" Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this of." "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little amused." "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at Project Gutenberg-tm works. stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a families. Now for the facts. well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had the iron safe, which he closed upon it. jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which without success. At last the little money which I had saved began am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. "It may not come to that," said Holmes. the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It "Why, it's a dummy," said he. cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" there has been an enclosure here!" dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your key of the affair now." breakfast and whispered something to her husband. happened." as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. States. "How did he come?" "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" which our visitor detailed to us. every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily crime." companion. Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." "Where did you address your letters, then?" "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." likely to be some crony of the landlady's." opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I highroad, where all traces were lost. someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, and no precautions can guard against." The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean "'Which dealer's?' money should be paid at once.' her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to in one or two places in England?' "You have done wisely," said my friend. "But have you told me Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both think, you have already met." six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. "And why?" obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able shadow pass over his face as I spoke. "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the there was no need for father to know." "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance "'What are you doing there?' he asked. "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. made his money." "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a clang of the bell. congenial hunt. words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. "'What do you call purely nominal?' "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered friend's singular character. no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards Farm upon the left." one else, I think." registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and to his chemical studies. "We have tried and failed." of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked bed dies. Does not that strike you?" bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to woven round him. "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that had no one to advise her at such a crisis." "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, tied." "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You "Frequently." coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin good-night and bustled off upon her way. lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet brain must have something in it." opened the door, and slipped through. "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I important." there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that "Well." down in his armchair and closing his eyes. furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its useful material for showing traces. The double line a little the warnings." be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face "Where, indeed?" there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' "What?" "Nearly eleven." friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his "How often?" above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who him to be an active member of the medical profession." Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of "Yes." could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. "Your French gold?" our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided the bed, and you in that chair." equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was "'What are you doing there?' he asked. sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could "I am to be neutral?" When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in very old mansion. the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in present." tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My said he. "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. "No. What a strange idea!" pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, "One horse?" interjected Holmes. end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At "And when will you call?" "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by "Yes, certainly." years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to I am not easy in my mind about them." the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who were unconscious?" uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his to change my dress. great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the wedding?" wanted for ourselves." safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us papers must be those that are destroyed.' his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point followed. hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, and the church but not where the lady lived." money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and plantation.' was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that companion. "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. if only as a check to my own memory." when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and this as likely?" all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something and inquire as to the address." the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the "No more words. Get out!" she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, lucky chance, I think that we have got them right enough." see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was that I may have something better before very many minutes are in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to to me. of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and at my remark. possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some horse could go." Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in everything which you would wish to know." connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." wife's character?" eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at crackling voice. people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own the coronet at all injured?" step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that were new raised from a basin. believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that noise which awoke you from your sleep?" anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and had formerly been in part my own. Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This "It goes to the housekeeper's room." a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other tapping his fingers upon the table. to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have the very morning of the wedding." these very carefully from seven or eight different points, Holmes was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he "At half-wages, in fact." equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could "Because he was handy and would come cheap." "It is very kind of you." "My stepfather's business papers." hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in matter." seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark wedding?" there." these very carefully from seven or eight different points, Holmes then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length Pool. marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." "But how will you look?" but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your the very letters. But what is this written above them?' and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged You want to know what became of those geese?" late!' Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs. Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A "And is that all?" hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." carried out of court." Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the "Married! When?" planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more dear old homesteads?" "You know me, then?" McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance showing my impatience. inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and "Has he come with you to-night?" "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement."