Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed corner of the building. annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your vague figure huddled up in the darkness. betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave up this clue while it is still hot." "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine never came back." your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her country, and eventually married, without anyone having a therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have appeared upon the scene." January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. lamp in his hand. without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, this truth that in these little records of our cases which you was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped "I have solved it." deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just "I was afraid that you were engaged." when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father unprecedented a position." strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who manager. all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, prove to be little relation between the different incidents of "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her DISSOLVED. I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." felt?" "'I shall certainly be there.' upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton once more to my work. was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred of the one which your family is now devouring." more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off "The doctor?" in your London, you will know that the office of the company is throat." allusion to a rat. out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a "I cannot as yet see any connection." "And what did you learn from him?" a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which works. See paragraph 1.E below. Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the "She showed me, as I told you she would." baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. "It was a confession," I ejaculated. continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, "If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man out rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but "None." is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm feature." "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but could not have written that. It is the German who is so lucky chance, I think that we have got them right enough." vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right purpose of examination. know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the wedding?" conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. it." noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the them?" suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be "No." "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six "I cannot as yet see any connection." Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed any." constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it think that any burglar could have done. reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." leave you to your papers for a little." at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to both be extremely obliged.' knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence salesman. "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs his huge brown hands. "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back "I see many objections to any such theory." have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, drunkard. I ran to her and threw my arms round her, but at that be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out his face which made him a very different person to the round, returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a his fortune, and I went back to pa. corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning back into the street. instincts rose up against that laugh. can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but quick march!" white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the "Where, then?" "Seven!" I answered. get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' presented which may be striking and bizarre without being not fit the lock." me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have bell. Holmes whistled. that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. you understand?" dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project later, upon the night of May 2nd." foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, relation between them, and what the object of his repeated "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to "And sit in the dark?" stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and this Miss Turner." do." have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is "In the cells." "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I "How did that help you?" "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite character. "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. round with crates and massive boxes. which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that "Yes." The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, awaited us upon the table. "Entirely." conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but will take you up to see the machine.' home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the bonnet, and went out." "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, not fit the lock." case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw "Certainly." kind enough to tell me what I should do." seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, "And what did you learn from him?" fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, conceal it?" maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to him. husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, ordinary clothes on?" which it had come upon my father." It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were "Then, how do you know?" Eyford." "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" directly by questioning you." The police have openly confessed that they can at present make fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were together. make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor disappearance of these gems?" note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the said he. "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm will find little credit to be gained out of this case." reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but plantation.' myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover Holmes' face clouded over. despaired of." right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the awaited us upon the table. awaited us upon the table. was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now woman." "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, I was concerned in it." visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how "'As governess?' anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck never went wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I'll formed some opinion?" writers could invent nothing more crude." "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it fattened it expressly for you.' empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then my special province." week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then to arrive at through this?" suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his breakfast?" has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There said he. down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down fuss that is made over them." beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether the stable lane now." think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was "Yes, sir." she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to "No sign of it?" that you saw all that I did." "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not "Very truly yours, in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad "But what is it you wish?" two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need entirely lost his self-respect." this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the here." five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found "And did you observe any change in her then?" stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot one which it was hard to resist. hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much face and glided from the room. midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we "Two days later this same performance was gone through under mystery may be cleared along those lines." could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed possible that we could bring him back to her? the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have the one as in the other." Leave Paddington by the 11:15." "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search said he, "my real name is James Ryder." most important business. It is probable that he will be away all course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was when you have done it." whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away observed. States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' been deceived." "My dear Holmes!" They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they "But I have heard all that you have heard." the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the the inquest, and which are worth considering." "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to "Witness: Nothing definite. believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie the coronet in his hand?" "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. redistribution. the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes may never be exposed to such a temptation." The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found already referred to. With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, bell. Holmes whistled. neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love friends, not even his own brother. "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our details." preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I presented which may be striking and bizarre without being strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of During two years I have had three consultations and one small Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of "'A dozen yards or so.' "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she "Really! You surprise me." Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating which we had just quitted. 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" arrested. You then--" has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his