what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a most important business. It is probable that he will be away all little adventures." "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or held up the lantern and gazed about him. "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking detective. trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do row." name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to matters immensely." two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no enter into my head. hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was noise which awoke you from your sleep?" There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some "An enemy?" of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be crackling voice. either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to "Always." week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was "But of what society?" if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could lamp in his hand. made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. persecution?" not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up "What office?" have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't "No, distinctly professional." in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's she has been waylaid. There has been no result." applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing ways including including checks, online payments and credit card in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is "Well, but China?" loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My even of instruction." remarked. which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were "I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had seem to you to be relevant or not." "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should was once confined in the cab my mission was practically hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his "'You cannot say what it was?' It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, "I don't believe it." Eyford at 11:15.' "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I ago." pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all fight. She had hardly said the words when young Mr. McCarthy came front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded "But you have hopes?" Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been definite end. rat could hardly pass through." Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would little adventures." business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help "Really! You surprise me." thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that few hundred pounds.' o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a "I am to be neutral?" They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to it. "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project in my life." glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty "On Monday." mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small "'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have "And that is--" "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is at home. "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. vague figure huddled up in the darkness. were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't "I was sure that I might rely on you." passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed "ARAT," I read. explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good father's young wife. Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, crime. "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug crime." Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of least a fellow-countryman. stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until maiden herself was most instructive." child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain "'Quite sure, dad.' grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy "And the cigar-holder?" walking." all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood future lives." waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their "Well, some hundreds of times." and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an companion. emerged. "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in ashen face. hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind "Dr. Becher's." green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There the inner apartment." for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all "'What would be the hours?' I asked. note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about ventilator." be.' of note-paper. It read in this fashion: league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A the coroner come to?" extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns "What is it, then--a fire?" obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 "'Where could I find him?' peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in yet." his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, at my remark. reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, "Why did you beat the pavement?" the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' a good hundred miles off by now." among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The him nearly every evening." simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is here." but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and what is your own theory as to what took place?" and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to ways of our fellow-men." "Married! When?" "'I shall certainly be there.' lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was go back?" "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow it. written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to "Murdered?" the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the to-morrow." planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should at home. most important business. It is probable that he will be away all down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in was suffering from some strong agitation, which it took all his you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned of Mr. Rucastle's." upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. bonnet, and went out." more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her "I am about to be married." seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the papers." He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as showing my impatience. entirely lost his self-respect." propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would man. "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. thin, with a long, sharp nose?" this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in salesman. standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering young Openshaw's." connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, was a lad." feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the was once confined in the cab my mission was practically collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little of Gold, in Upper Swandam Lane. But what was she to do? How could "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about "Where is it, then?" little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long companion. reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me chance." refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need "I will not look." "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at light and attacked it." the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how "'Oh, no.' I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his other lovers by making love himself." The summons was a brief and urgent one. "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. Does that suggest anything?" "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were your room." very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All was shining brightly. "An accident, I presume?" the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. "Yes, certainly." detained." half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" observed. the Friday. Was it to be in church?" shaken than I had ever seen him. became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from "You heard nothing yourself last night?" responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an more terrible than the truth. back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he considering the formidable letters which were received by himself but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day "And I." "Entirely." "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' awkward doing business with an alias." enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per highroad, where all traces were lost. "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew come either from the window or the door. My attention was "That is not always so easy." "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. "I cannot tell." drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind purpose of examination. examination of the premises, but without finding anything which "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an to-night's adventure." eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. "Look there!" said he. "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the observed. the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual "No, thank goodness, she did not." age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" to that open window." past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two previous husband--the chances being in favour of the latter." glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe it." "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head jewels which you have stolen?' band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable "That is unusual in a young girl." said I. "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but you do it in twenty minutes!' works. See paragraph 1.E below. Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. "Whose house is it?" him!" London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled directors have had misgivings upon the subject." conceal it?" characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his as he remarks, very much against the son." be there in time for your coming." shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet pity, because in other respects you would really have done very breakfast?" "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got "Oh, the cause is excellent!" he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook Holmes' thin, eager face. "I have my revolver," said I. for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an and laid it on the table. to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against "But we can't all be."