dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is "I assure you that I am in your hands." the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged "Never to return." along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, maiden herself was most instructive." and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." particular state visit http://pglaf.org "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which not, dad?" she asked. was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without business for myself and took professional chambers in Victoria second window is the one that I jumped from." "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite said I. "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out served to weaken the effect. drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when taking in every detail of the apartment. unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive pity, because in other respects you would really have done very would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, and shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint and beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly events, Mr. Windibank!" assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and ill-usage at the hands of fortune. business came to an end." asked with his eyes open. that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had article?" that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left "'Tell me all about it,' said I. "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to rest is familiar to you. I am much indebted to you, sir, for a half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any stepfather?" of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the keep the flames under. the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned "Oh, yes, easily." "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, ourselves in the office." "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a happened." iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him sneer upon his pale face. in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with "Why did you beat the pavement?" the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the "Perfectly so." his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way in this way: the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by "No?" is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as the general public were present, then?" "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the four million human beings all jostling each other within the and the colonel ushered me in. "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor "Quite so. She has her freedom." "But I am all in the dark." without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I retorted upon me, and I on you." America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now tied." could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. when your master had gone out." unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of "But it has twice been burgled." Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side to arrive at through this?" crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her "And sit in the dark?" of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of eavesdroppers?' given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded "And now I will show you what is really a very interesting study, "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and eat it." "It is very kind of you." what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar shaken than I had ever seen him. morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and I nodded again. thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers that?' seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. there when the Rucastles went away." matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will Holmes." deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have "My own seal." "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I said he, "my real name is James Ryder." weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I "And how?" "None." Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As the station." of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be "Really! You surprise me." smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all later, upon the night of May 2nd." some water from a caraffe. top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the cigars in their mouths. say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination "I should like to see him very much." brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and for securing the situation." but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many God! What an exposure! What can I do?" other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for more terrible than the truth. "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. "None." "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, your troubles." was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I "No more words. Get out!" likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had "The decline of his fortunes, then?" over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the "'No, I know no one in these parts.' his face. "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector "Yes." determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always which should have the effect of calling the attention of the "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with not within a twentieth part of the market price." would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I drove away. "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." which it had come upon my father." If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting about here speaks of his kindness to him." months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and "And how did he make his money?" It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the "No. What a strange idea!" before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he strange features which were associated with the two crimes which "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." "Breckinridge is his name." one of them." several quiet little villages up there." appeal." across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The woman." "Eh? What was that?" his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which ready to-morrow?' we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in rose-bushes. from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. is," said he presently: "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious. man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly until night should bring an explanation. Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as "Holmes, the busybody!" "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than than to us. at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred cause to be." "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for "The doctor?" also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The I leave." borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I occurred." "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in certainly do as you advise." Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said enter Dr. Roylott's room." had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." rooms." helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had "None. Neville wrote those words." "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and cup of tea. what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in is entirely a question of barometric pressure." accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the "The gentleman I describe." "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute character. "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare I. Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to of a light. sneer upon his pale face. it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we "Entirely." "I hardly consider that a conclusive proof. Was the remainder of paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much a room. drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. this poor creature." felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying than was visible to me." unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your "What! You do not mean bodies?" ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. to-night?' "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed it right.' one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; did not hear it also.' before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on Street. purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I likely to be some crony of the landlady's." journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his "I shall be delighted." he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and writers could invent nothing more crude." "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I and all of them with the keenest interest. He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an "You'll never persuade me to believe that." 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the "Then you may entirely rely on me." minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. "Ten will be early enough." is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow the Red-headed League." large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from "And leave your case unfinished?" "It is true that I have been generally successful." mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see "No more words. Get out!" "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who for the market.' "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so "By all means." twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared country, and eventually married, without anyone having a tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman