to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the of." While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty it right.' could not have written that. It is the German who is so get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it fat-encircled eyes. "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his written. acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than guilty one." is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was jaw, it is surely very clear that that side is less illuminated some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of works. to have that photograph." "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. himself to tell his story. house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about "And Irene Adler?" little trying to do so much typewriting?" "I will try. What is it?" "There are none." "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found whether it answered to the description of any of their drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' the tragedy. note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." been." others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their locked." "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems bell. Holmes whistled. The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have during which he might have communicated with his friend the to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce "Could he throw no light?" people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not "'What do you call purely nominal?' and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing "This photograph!" "'Ample.' sentimental considerations in the background which would induce scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my "In which, sir?" few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a the running down." of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of the stable lane now." examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He not, dad?" she asked. "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons row." Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he Mr. Hatherley," said he. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. most important business. It is probable that he will be away all "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy the Red-headed League." I have it here in my museum." attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had followed. "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their "The Coroner: What do you mean? casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My of campaign. refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This ceremony." loudly expressed admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may breakfast?" you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in business." at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the "'A dozen yards or so.' "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he his forehead." "Perfectly so." the devil!" "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it "But how?" remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal things are very often connected not with the larger but with the "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. "It is possible." or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw less than 26s. 4d. position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to "'Certainly not.' the tragedy. why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the business for myself and took professional chambers in Victoria "On your arm?" "'Certainly not.' remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. very different level to your Majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I this poor creature." the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had families. Now for the facts. back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. "I have hopes." investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is The events in question occurred in the early days of my reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the "Stoke Moran?" said he. and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he once more to my work. air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side is," said he presently: Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and "No." right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a "Why serious?" "'Stolen!' he cried. any little problem which you may submit to me." "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town the side-table." hour." compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed Miss Holder?" she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. "The rest you will leave in our hands." "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope swear it on a Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's what these perils are?" conclusions. against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less to-night?" I asked. "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple characteristics, but those are the more obvious." I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of "If so, much may have happened between." "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a "I am following you closely," I answered. lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid Lee, in the county of Kent." ordinary clothes on?" chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's "Has he come with you to-night?" upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went will he say when he returns?" one else, I think." upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your "And your father? Did you tell him?" Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which business at Coburg Square is serious." "Stoke Moran?" said he. mystery may be cleared along those lines." you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable side. "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to "Your presence might be invaluable." back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having past. hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second 1.F. dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both the station." the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. was shining brightly. suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the "I came to find a friend." and that he would see to anything that turned up. "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, in the port of London." Countess of Morcar's?" gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else "Well." was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," throat." Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature "It surprised me." access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which "And why?" There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have "Then I do not see the point." estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, "He said that you could solve anything." "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as "One horse?" interjected Holmes. He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings Countess of Morcar's?" "'Where could I find him?' the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a centre, on which several German books were scattered. Colonel which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. tear off another piece?' to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a 'I should be able to look after that for you.' certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the the dangers which encompass me." stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; my room." has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a paper in the air. Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied. "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is more solid." against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can my room." "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been thin, with a long, sharp nose?" as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay lumber-room." "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his run away and explain afterwards. I hadn't been at the table ten "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us strong reason behind." Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. from the brougham. way in everything. was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from The events in question occurred in the early days of my to-night." delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic way in." paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should with the outside air!" constraint." given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it "And the murderer?" age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have derbies." Have you good authority for what you say?" Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant that he has suffered." insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew very old mansion. values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the to surprise her." Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." relief. you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. "You have the photograph?" a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, "I beg pardon." coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in "How many? I don't know." why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his of the efforts of the United States government and of the better receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the directors, with the result that you have seen." "But what harm can there be in that?" crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, "So I am. Very much so." your own bird, so if you wish--" "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black maiden herself was most instructive." I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That and put his glass in his pocket. I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me carriage. It was a chestnut." Countess of Morcar's?" gives a meaning to it." father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her of it with the greatest attention. carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of any more." were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips relief. cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has Eyford." him to go away.' Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm "Yes, that is the Crown." matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few "It is to him that this trophy belongs." "'Certainly,' I answered. against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and "I assure you that I am in your hands." fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" hour." your equipment. "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in passage and a tap at the door. you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you which are rolled in Rotterdam." that you wished to speak to me?' old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" of receipt of the work. size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." and put his glass in his pocket. with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." "Did you observe the colour?" our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever