stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like "What office?" old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the hopeless attempt at recovering them." and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business better in every way that they should make their position a little sentimental considerations in the background which would induce Eyford at 11:15.' Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on "What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated. about here speaks of his kindness to him." society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, wife's character?" those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's "And how?" to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he be. "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a and your relations to her." "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before "None." "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, "I will, Miss Turner." overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just now. article?" tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was *** START: FULL LICENSE *** they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some morning." specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. "No." perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted again, where I was soon asleep. "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend highly," said Holmes. while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their that you saw all that I did." "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the You can understand that this register and diary may implicate in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just hurried by. heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." woman who has had her own way to make in the world. several quiet little villages up there." grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it then?" resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank "No." "Pray be precise as to details," said he. crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my "Deserted you?" "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for extraordinary contortions. "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which your bag." were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, gives a meaning to it." knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips goes." before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his "'Entirely.' the child." "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me details." "Entirely." house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by "'Quite sure, dad.' never will be, entirely cleared up. "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and "You horrify me!" "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can "No." the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of "I fear not." charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some at my own good fortune. to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the and capable of preserving a secret.' bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made other means.' noise which awoke you from your sleep?" warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was chance." pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the past. father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. prepare for the new role I have to play." in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so it." greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should "'Tell me all about it,' said I. their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too present strange and interesting features that it is no easy "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after "At half-wages, in fact." Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a you." "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works before the coroner and the police-court." him to go away.' Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that "Did he not advertise?" drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We Foundation "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the relation between them, and what the object of his repeated Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one "No, but the enclosure is." with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical whatever might befall. the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the my little problems." matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing are, and they are waiting for us." "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, me upon any point which I do not make clear." "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for the matter?" too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness DAMAGE. fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no dress. She knows that the King is capable of having her waylaid search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss his cane at the bell-pull. "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the fishes. drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. voice, changing her seat as requested. papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. if she died from some sudden fright." "Ten will be early enough." it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace "Two days later this same performance was gone through under to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. gentleman's clothes. and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford "He is still with you, I presume?" dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored looking up at the numbers of the houses." It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my I was concerned in it." "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the was shining brightly. "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room all that?" the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time "How did he come?" the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an a monotonous occupation." suddenly upon us." "Did you become engaged then?" St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most "'Yes, I promise.' 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. "It is a murder, then?" By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid ways of our fellow-men." struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, Holmes' thin, eager face. quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" "Yes, certainly." blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, "You did not overhear what they said?" every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily room?" partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." straightened it out again. "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without "On the contrary, this is the right side." On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I lamp in his hand. to arrive at through this?" "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the bed dies. Does not that strike you?" Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more leaning back in his chair. "I will do it." male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire "It is true that I have been generally successful." 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the knowledge of the world." "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, my special province." "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? his interest. Lestrade, being rather puzzled, has referred the "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did "Not in the least." The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, "No, but the enclosure is." saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and "'In my own bureau.' I took the paper from him and read as follows: chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her over here." the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only once more to my work. perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the "And when will you call?" "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither enter Dr. Roylott's room." "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the "I saw her in conversation with her maid." Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily foresight and the moral retrogression?" "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. "Imitated." income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident, know all about it," he snarled. suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital was once confined in the cab my mission was practically usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and least a fellow-countryman. an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that upon a handsome competence. matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and "Perfectly so." the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was so far?" "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of "Yes. He waved his hands." fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and "And is that all?" my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, "What, then, did Peterson do?" "And how did you find out?" skylight. Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he hurried by. where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He gbnewby@pglaf.org been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always the coroner come to?" have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." awkward doing business with an alias." practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man remarked. "So I am. Very much so." furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his like gravel from a pit.' starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were "At what time?" sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was easy-going way." waste of energy." "Two days later this same performance was gone through under flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the annoyance, but no jest. "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! time." horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take