"Certainly." and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, most interesting one." "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from upon an income of about 60 pounds." the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but already referred to. imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they together. Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were It may be so in this case, also." crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring Again Holmes raved in the air. "How many? I don't know." been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased answer." "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped with you?" It was close upon four before the door opened, and a it." PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK rooms." must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, "But you would not advise me to refuse?" "I am to be neutral?" "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an never to learn it at all." man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, them, and came down just as you departed. as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the "How did you trace it, then?" 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that "And it is--" foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this of this gang." "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and true." his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble *** START: FULL LICENSE *** My friend smiled. as this. Pray let me have the details." to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But "I am sure." "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is "Dirty?" very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are the nursery. houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start "And sit in the dark?" of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your "No, I am descending." "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to just ask you whether you had heard it.' red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' weapon." law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." him, that man would not have given me such complete information distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it straighten it?" bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with "It was an hour's good drive." "Yes, only one." as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of you." greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would "The gentleman I describe." their singular warning or token before them when starting upon absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he "Nothing." down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per which I could not give. He asked for Alice. down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains crowd. green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and them, and came down just as you departed. I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several hopeless attempt at recovering them." had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make colonel looking down at me. http://www.gutenberg.net "Nor running a chance of arrest?" I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said It may be so in this case, also." is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing kindly on the shoulder. have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of leaning back in his chair. "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no went to the Alpha were town bred." this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten you, my dear young lady?' "One of the highest in England." "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out "What will you say?" I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I Holmes rather sternly. as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks she slowly sank and died without having recovered her think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our that there was nothing in it, after all." Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. her also." "Quite so. She has her freedom." upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, interests were the same as his." "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" nothing with him." part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my "No sign of it?" Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, it. fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' than to us. turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for that copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most the south-west, I see." upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. "Then the page we have seen--" "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we there were so many in the whole country as were brought together drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I "It is to him that this trophy belongs." friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door "Yes, it was twisted." untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and "Will you bet, then?" the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and "Very truly yours, stammered. lamp. her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I "At the wedding breakfast." photograph?" vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" "And what did you learn from him?" street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler "Will you go?" more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared passage and a tap at the door. Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project the morning and make my own way in the world.' time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in point in the dark hollow of his hand. ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE "Yes." and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for leave you to your papers for a little." assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a nice household for a young lady." visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in may have an influence upon European history." by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid unpleasant thing about the house, which struck me at once, was breakfast?" "In answer to an advertisement." introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the "How did he come?" every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he is entirely a question of barometric pressure." "Yesterday." gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly roused himself from his reverie. more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." always that they were such commands as a lady might with "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," exactly what you advise." "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a leave you to your papers for a little." thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his this poor creature." very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of conceal it?" "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. call you and give you the chance." possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned indeed which he could not unravel. in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, "Well, it is a possible supposition." "Then what has happened to him?" large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call "I don't believe it." his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, that you can jump it.' in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked be sorry for having acted so harshly." Miss Holder?" of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have chill to my heart. prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this kind enough to tell me what I should do." handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, "You are all wrong." McCarthy." family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. "About a month then." as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made matter." him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a you." "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman business for myself and took professional chambers in Victoria was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to "This photograph!" do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. "You have compromised yourself seriously." she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an Watson," he said cordially. and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning and effective." the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one bedroom door." he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece "And I say east," said my patient. circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of with her." "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which "It is his hat." without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the on re-entering her father's house?" "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his and no precautions can guard against." train from Paddington which would bring you there at about contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert woven round him. I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that in him." whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial "But not more so than I to find you." are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, to Leatherhead. but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through "You have the photograph?" Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never became a certainty. "What are they?" through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the existence." away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very "In the cells." "Yes." License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a ways including including checks, online payments and credit card quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can people in all walks of life. black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you directors, with the result that you have seen." cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I "What do you make of that, Watson?" the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best "And why?" thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted in the dead of the night?' sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, "I was certainly surprised to find you there." necessary. I have already offered a reward of 1000 pounds. My "But what will you do?" "The decline of his fortunes, then?" "Certainly." search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch "'Is 4 pounds a week.' leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must "I am about to be married." squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the long narrative. And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this to-night?' "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to