Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. Miss Holder?" deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even miles off. chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his indeed which he could not unravel. and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune "To the police?" cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention congenial hunt. conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his his huge brown hands. against a man in the prime of life?" clang of the bell. will he say when he returns?" "In answer to an advertisement." sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in Henry Baker is a member." into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the skylight. "Yes, they were peculiar boots." precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my "Yes, that is the Crown." "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so prepare for the new role I have to play." crackling voice. "What of the rat, then?" We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the "I fear not." "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the "Perhaps I have." poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly "'I am sure if I had known--' latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it away in different directions, and I went off to make my own "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a "'Never,' said I. success. least a fellow-countryman. "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different over with notes and figures. determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the my friend's incisive reasoning. "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing "What office?" Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms in your London, you will know that the office of the company is "How did you trace it, then?" array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is particular state visit http://pglaf.org instincts rose up against that laugh. upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back "'Yes, I promise.' examination of the premises, but without finding anything which sound at heart." paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and "'You doubt its value?' he asked. "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three the iron safe, which he closed upon it. must compliment you." dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father was not a bird to be seen there. not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor papers diligently of late, have you not?" It may be so in this case, also." lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at Where does the thing come from?' entirely lost his self-respect." "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look "What, then, did Peterson do?" wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon "'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of "And that is--" and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this "And why in hopes?" they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case clang of the bell. "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled imbecility!" he cried. five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never have taken place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, never came back." huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. with you?" before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to showing my impatience. should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can James Windibank. Voilà tout!" friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand of the efforts of the United States government and of the better happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall "Yes, he did." exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, you." contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two "She walked into the breakfast-room." opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at ourselves in the office." vanished into the darkness. had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded quick march!" disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all me upon any point which I do not make clear." spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first "He might." abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a "'Ample.' prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an third from London." well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you "But you have hopes?" fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm in this way: relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a "It surprised me." slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, appeal." the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and your own bird, so if you wish--" "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your "I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that 11:15.' me, and I could not think that his explanation of the hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to "Certainly." other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of drove away. from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." lucky chance, I think that we have got them right enough." Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to "Will you bet, then?" The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," in the hope of finding them." "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would "Ha! you find it so?" round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, asked. "Yes." the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was to take care of herself." look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual tell him that I know him to be innocent." against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for manager. fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." "I came to find a friend." appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The are, and they are waiting for us." problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get "You were travelling in the States?" someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply in darkness. beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. fish-monger and a tide-waiter." "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert "And you thought he was pulled back?" business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the "Nothing." the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt of." low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. way in everything. the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, "In heaven's name, what for?" their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it simple cases which are so extremely difficult." "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger advice." "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible out of this horrible affair." window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, man. I know him from the photograph." was my first impression. At the second glance, however, I had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and "I have come for advice." "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, your sleep?' of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." families. Now for the facts. been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but clang of the bell. my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There "'Yes, it was gone.' too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." "In what way?" asked Holmes. better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If records." "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms prove to be little relation between the different incidents of the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that "Always." he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had footfalls from the street. many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was disappearance of these gems?" "What, then, did Peterson do?" me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of "Where did you address your letters, then?" "But who is he?" place of silver." product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great "Witness: Nothing definite. "Where, then?" "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the front of me. dramatic, in fact." what these perils are?" "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." front of the hall door has given its name to the place. "The vanishing of the lady." violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem "'You doubt its value?' he asked. possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and British peeress.'" "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in "It looks newer than the other things?" would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears "When did it break out?" "What shall I do?" It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be "It surprised me." this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and and files of the old papers, following the future career of every like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. "When did she vanish, then?" "It is his hat." look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. "Yes, at the mines." Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." whatever might befall. adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly "The landlord of the Alpha." "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and plantation.' young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would coroner's jury." "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to the unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to "Where did you address your letters, then?" Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." "Nearly eleven." time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters "To the police?" which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small particular state visit http://pglaf.org "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt goes." "How many? I don't know." "You have the photograph?" slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but the window, rose as we entered. and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The "When did it break out?" I was concerned in it." room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had "Proceed, then." save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered very peculiar words of the dying woman?" But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be "I am all attention, madam." his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come fluttered off among the others. sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to "'You doubt its value?' he asked. was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business quick march!" saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small fishes. As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester "Very. But will he see it?" not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and examine." Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but